Falklands veteran pleads with court to spare his dog
A veteran of the Falklands War has appealed to a Sheriff not to order the destruction of his pet Japanese Akita dog.
Richard Wilson who sustained eye injuries from shrapnel wounds clearing mines with the Royal Engineers after the Falklands War in 1982 appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court on Thursday and admitted two offences under the Dangerous Dogs Act.
Sheriff Margaret Neilson heard how Wilson’s dog ran through a gap in a fence in a field where he was exercising the dog and attacked a Labrador on July 26, 2012 at Viewfield in Beauly.
Then a year later on July 12 the same dog attacked another Labrador which had been swimming in the River Beauly.
Wilson (49) of Ferry Lane, Beauly admitted being the owner of a dog which was dangerously out of control on both occasions in a public place and that the dog bit and injured the dogs it attacked.
Depute fiscal Amanda Mitchell said on July 26,2012 the warden of a sheltered housing complex in Beauly stopped to speak to an elderly occupant when he saw someone walking a Labrador on a lead.
A dog belonging to Wilson ran from a field through a gap in a fence.
The fiscal said: ”The dog sank it’s teeth into the neck of the Lab pinning it to the ground. The owner tried to grab it be the neck. The accused ran towards them shouting ‘come here come here’ and eventually got it under control.”
A year later another dog owner was at a location known as the Ferry Crossing on the River Beauly with his two Labradors who were in the water swimming.
Ms Mitchell said Wilson’s Akita approached one of the Labradors.”It went for its neck and missed and eventually grabbed the dog’s hind legs and dragged it along the ground. He (Wilson) eventually got the dog under control and put it in his car.”
She said the Labrador required stitches and antibiotics and the treatment cost £140.
Defence agent Iain Innes told Sheriff Neilson the dog now remained muzzled and has met with a vet to see how it reacts to situations putting it in contact with other dogs in social situations. He said the vet had even put his hand in the dog's mouth as part of the tests.
“The dog means more to Mr Wilson than a pet. It has a therapeutic effect on him.”
He told the court Wilson sustained an injury in the Falklands War and he would not be going out at all had it not been for the dog.
“He is very fond of his dog and will do anything to prevent the court considering an order to have it put down.”
He said Wilson had been thoroughly honest in the preparation of the background reports before the court.
“There may be a future for both him and the dog,” he said.
Sheriff Neilson noted that prior to these incidents the dog was not having any regular contact with vets.
But she said she would defer sentence for four weeks to get a report from the vet,
As he left the court Mr Wilson said he sustained shrapnel wounds to his eye and he never recovered from the injury.
“I am painfully aware the distress this has caused the owners of the other dogs.”
Mr Wilson’s mother Phoebe Wilson who was in court for the hearing said: ”Without his dog he couldn’t function. It’s his mentor and without the dog he wouldn’t socialise. We are very sorry for what happened and will do everything to ensure there is no repeat.” She said they paid the bill for the injuries to the Labrador which required treatment.
