Woman tells court she was ‘terrified’ and hospitalised after being attacked by two dogs on Linear Park trail

A woman was knocked over and forced to lie with her face in the dirt as two unleashed dogs “clawed” at her during a shocking attack, a court has heard.

Athelstone dog owner Yuri Lediaev, right, leaves the Adelaide Magistrates Court with his lawyer on Tuesday.

Two dogs named after Disney characters forced a woman to the ground and clawed at her as she lay with her face in the dirt, a court has heard.

Yuri Lediaev, 53, owns “rottweiler-type” Simba and great dane-mastiff cross Nala, who allegedly “attacked/harassed” the victim on the Linear Park trail at Athelstone last April. He faced the Adelaide Magistrates Court on Tuesday, where defence and prosecution could not agree on the facts of the charge.

A spokesman for Campbelltown Council, which launched legal action against Mr Lediaev, of Athelstone, told the court the woman went to the hospital after the incident and “suffered a great deal”.

“Rottweiler-type” Simba and Great Dane-mastiff cross Nala allegedly “attacked/harassed” a woman in Linear Park last April, a court heard. Picture: Brett Hartwig

A statement from the victim, read out in court, described how one dog clipped the woman before another hit her from behind, causing her to fall down.

The council spokesman said the dogs growled and clawed at her, wounding her hand.

“I fell to the ground with my left hip grazing the concrete path,” he read from the woman’s statement. “I kept totally still with my face in the dirt while the dogs pushed down my hand and face. It was terrifying. My hand and my forehead were clawed.”

Mr Lediaev is facing four charges over the incidents, two counts relating to the incident involving the woman and another two counts arising from the dogs wandering into a private place without consent on the same day.

“Rottweiler-type” Simba was one of two dogs that allegedly “attacked/harassed” a woman in Linear Park last April, a court heard. Picture Brett Hartwig

He earlier pleaded guilty to all four, but on Tuesday Magistrate Ben Sale questioned whether he needed to strike out the pleas and set the matter for trial after counsel and prosecution could not agree on the facts of the ­“attack/harassment” of the woman, aged in her late 60s.

When Mr Sale asked if Mr Lediaev’s lawyer Peter Scragg accepted the dogs attacked and harassed the victim, Mr Scragg said: “I saw that as optional and I opted for harassed”.

“I think she lost balance and fell over and it’s not as if they attacked her, Your Honour, they just went to see her.”

Mr Scragg said after the incident his client got the dogs under control and called an ambulance.

A disputed facts hearing was scheduled for May.

Originally published as Woman tells court she was ‘terrified’ and hospitalised after being attacked by two dogs on Linear Park trail