Man ordered to pay $20k over Brighton dog attack

A man has been ordered to pay nearly $20,000 after his dogs savagely mauled two cavoodles in Brighton with the magistrate sharing his own nasty dog experience.

A Northern Territory man has been ordered to pay nearly $20,000 after his American Staffordshire terriers savagely mauled two cavoodles in Brighton. Picture: generic image

A man whose dogs escaped a Brighton yard and savagely mauled two pet cavoodles has been ordered to fork out nearly $20,000 following the incident.

Benjamin Monteiro’s american staffordshire terriers Ivy and Flex attacked the two little pooches as they were being walked along North Rd about 6pm on July 2.

The Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court heard the hounds caused serious injuries to the cavoodles, with vet bills totalling nearly $14,000.

One of the cavoodles’ owners also suffered injuries to his hand during an attempt to separate the dogs.

Mr Monteiro, 38, pleaded guilty to owning dogs which caused serious injury to another dog and non-serious injury to a person, owning dogs which were at large, and failing to register the dogs.

The court heard Flex and Ivy chased the cavoodles and their owners as they tried to retreat into their yard.

Council officers seized the dogs soon after.

Mr Monteiro’s defence lawyer Brett Melke told the court his client had come to Melbourne from the Northern Territory for a friend’s engagement party earlier this year and “got stuck here” as a result of the coronavirus lockdowns.

He had been staying at his cousin’s home in Brighton and wasn’t aware the fence had been damaged in bad weather, Mr Melke said.

“ (Mr Monteiro) is genuinely remorseful. He serious felt awful and provided a full apology letter to the victim,” he said.

“It’s rather unfortunate that this happened, it’s not a matter of gross negligence where someone has a fence that isn’t properly looked after and they knew there was a problem and didn’t tend to it.”

Magistrate Paul Smith said there was “simply no defence” in dog attack cases.

“It can get incredibly expensive if a dog were to bite a human,” he said.

“I’ve seen cases where young children are bitten on the face and left with scars and that’s the sort of thing that’s worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages.

“If dogs aren’t kept under proper control and get out and attack someone it can cost you everything you own in life.”

Mr Smith shared details of having to have his own dog euthanised after it repeatedly tried to bite people.

“I formed the view that it wasn’t worth losing my house over this dog, which is the sort of damages it could have cost me,” he said.

“People don’t realise that, they think the dog’s been a bit naughty but it will all be OK, but it won’t necessarily be OK — you can lose everything you have.

“You have got to be so careful with dogs.”

Mr Smith ordered Mr Monteiro to pay about $3000 in outstanding vet costs which were not covered by the victim’s pet insurance, as well as almost $15,000 in pound fees.

“In your particular circumstances where you were staying at somebody else’s houses … you bear very little moral culpability but all of these offences are strict liability offences and it doesn’t matter that you’re not morally responsible, you are legally responsible,” Mr Smith said.

Ivy and Flex will be declared dangerous. Mr Monteiro plans to return to the Northern Territory once he collects them from the pound.

No conviction was recorded.