Daniel Nicholas, of Narraweena, hit with $6700 in fines and costs for flouting dog ownership ban
A northern beaches man has been fined thousands of dollars after being convicted of ignoring a court-ordered ban not to own any more dogs.
Manly
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A man banned from owning a dog after a pack of his pets mauled a neighbour’s pooch to death on the northern beaches is in trouble with authorities again.
Daniel Nicholas, 31, has been hit with $6700 in fines and legal costs by Manly Local Court for flouting a court order that he not own a dog.
The ownership ban came after four of the Narraweena delivery driver’s dogs broke through a fence and killed Chilli, a family’s two-year-old spoodle in their backyard.
The savage attack by the large dogs was witnessed by Chilli’s owner and her three young children on January 25, 2019.
Nicholas was prosecuted by Northern Beaches Council, under the NSW Companion Animals Act, for owning dogs “which rushed, attacked and bit” the spaniel-poodle cross.
Court documents described the breeds of the attacking dogs as three Neapolitan mastiffs and one dingo-Staffordshire-ridgeback cross.
The dogs were seized by council rangers and put down.
On October 31 last year the court fined Nicholas $6000 over the death of Chilli and ordered he pay $7000 in costs.
The court also banned Nicholas from owning a dog for 12 months.
But in November last year the council learned that Nicholas was still the registered owner of a dog called Boomer, an Irish wolfhound crossed with a breed of pig hunting dog known as a bull Arab.
Nicholas pleaded guilty to one count of own, or in charge of, dog when disqualified but told council rangers in November that he was arranging a foster home for Boomer through the RSPCA.
In a letter, tendered to Manly Court, his lawyer John Hajje wrote that Nicholas had given the dog to a friend at Warriewood on October 31, but did not formally transfer ownership to the friend through the council’s dog registration scheme.
“(Nicholas) did not intentionally or deliberately break the order imposed on him, but rather thought he had genuinely done the right thing by verbally and physically handing ownership of the dog (to his friend) on October 31, 2019,” the letter said.
“(It) was merely an unfortunate result of late paperwork, no more.”
On Tuesday Magistrate Mark Richardson fined Nicholas $700 and ordered he pay the council $6000 for its legal costs.
Mayor Michael Regan welcomed the court’s decision.
““The message is again clear. We take dog offences seriously and we will follow through if you flout the law,” Mr Regan said.
“In this case, the offender has had to face the court on multiple occasions and has attracted significant financial penalties. He serves as an example to others of what can happen if you are not a responsible dog owner.”
Nicholas now owns a goat.