It took many witnesses, an unequivocal expert and urgent persuasion from the public prosecutor and judge before a woman from Munich accepted the punishment for her dog attacking a child on Thursday. The dog had bitten off half an ear of a then four-year-old.
After extensive and confrontational evidence, the 58-year-old withdrew her objection to the penalty order on which the proceedings were based before the Munich District Court. A suspended sentence of eight months is now legally binding.
This prison sentence is suspended for two and a half years. In addition, the surgeon has to pay the child 10,000 euros in damages plus 5,000 euros to a non-profit organization. The dog had already attacked children several times in the presence of the woman and sometimes seriously injured them. In the meantime, she is no longer allowed to hold “Dalmi”.
At first, the woman did not want to see in court that her darling had also caused serious damage to the six-year-old. Supported by her defense attorney, she vehemently insisted that the dog jumped at the child in September 2021 – “but he did not touch the child”. The injury must have happened before, for example when the boy fell off his bike.
Halterin was actually only allowed to go for a walk sober
The owner had been sentenced to a fine just a few weeks before this incident for negligent bodily harm to two children. In addition, at the time of the attack, she was already required to only take her dog out with a special head halter and only when she was sober. But a breath alcohol test on the dog owner showed around two per mille that evening. “Wasn’t such a glorious idea,” the judge commented dryly.
According to the indictment, the child’s mother had just finished comforting her little son, who had fallen off his bike without major consequences, when the male dog, who was being led on a leash, jumped at the then four-year-old and bit off the upper half of his right ear through the hood of his sweater. The dog owner, however, insisted on her version. She explained the high alcohol level by repeatedly disinfecting her hands.
The judge then began an extensive hearing of evidence. Happy and cheerful, the now six-year-old also followed the judge to the questioning, which took place without public. Because of his longer hair, he was not teased because of the affected ear, his mother then described as a witness. “He doesn’t say he’s ugly. But he doesn’t want anyone to see that.” Four operations are needed to eventually reconstruct the ear one day.
Expert sees only a dog bite as an explanation
The director of the clinic for pediatric surgery at the Berlin Charité, Karin Rothe, committed herself as an expert at the end of the full day of negotiations in a heated mood: “The injury, as it is documented, and I’m not going back a step, clearly originates from a dog bite wound.” After this statement and the reminder of the judge that a possible verdict would be harder than the penalty order because of the lack of confession and the interrogation of the boy, the accused then buckled.
Nobody knows how many children or adults in Germany are bitten by a dog every year. There are no central statistics, and in many places, such as in Bavaria, the attacks are not officially recorded at all. In addition, there is a large number of unreported cases, because around three quarters of all attacks on children happen in the family environment – and accordingly are not even reported.
Nevertheless, the dimensions can be guessed: According to the latest data for 2020 and 2021, the Federal Statistical Office reports six and five deaths respectively from being bitten or pushed by a dog in Germany. And Berlin alone has almost 460 light and 70 serious injuries in the dog bite statistics for 2021. Around nine million dogs live in Germany.
“Dogs and children don’t mix well”
“Children are often the victims who are hurt the most, because the child’s face is at the same level as the dog’s head,” explains Constanze Pape, a veterinarian from the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich who specializes in behavioral therapy for dogs. And otherwise applies: “Dogs and children do not go well together.” High, squeaky sounds, fast movements, unusual reactions – “Children make many things and noises that encourage the dog, for example, to run after them, to pinch and bite, and he doesn’t mean it in a bad way.”
Regardless of the breed: “Any dog can bite,” emphasizes Pape. In some federal states in Germany there is therefore a general obligation to keep dogs on a leash, in others for certain breeds or for certain places such as children’s playgrounds or folk festivals.
According to the General Association of the German Insurance Industry, about a third of owners take out dog liability insurance, although this is only mandatory in six federal states. Insurance companies cover more than 80,000 claims caused by dogs every year. Each case costs around 1000 euros on average. “However, there are about 100 accidents per year that cost 50,000 euros and more,” explained a spokesman.
