Echelon the dog avoids being put down after brutally attacking border collie in Pontville

A magistrate made his decision from the options of having a Great Dane destroyed, declared dangerous or muzzled after a deadly attack. LATEST >>

• Launceston arts patron loses sex crime appeal
• Abuse advocates calls for removal of John Glover statue

A magistrate choosing between having Echelon the Great Dane destroyed, declared dangerous or muzzled after a deadly attack has handed down his decision.

James McCulloch, 49, appeared at Hobart Magistrates Court on Thursday to be sentenced over one count of being the owner of a dog which attacked a person or animal resulting in serious injury.

He had pleaded guilty to the offence.

McCulloch had been walking his Great Dane Echelon at Pontville in November 2018 when his dog attacked a Border Collie named Ty, resulting in Ty having to be put down.

Magistrate Glenn Hay said apart from this incident Echelon had been a “generally friendly” and “good tempered dog”.

“It is possible Echelon became annoyed by the smaller dog Ty,” he said.

The Hobart Magistrates Court. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE.

Although Mr Hay said the attack did not cause immediate death, he said the decision by his owner to put Ty down was “inevitable and reasonable”.

“Ty was not a young dog but there was nothing to suggest that he did not have a positive future ahead of him,” Mr Hay said.

Mr Hay said the attack was “serious”, but said because it was not at the “more serious end of the scale” Echelon should not be destroyed.

The magistrate said Echelon had allegedly bitten another dog in the Southern Midlands Council area in May last year.

By that time, McCulloch had given Echelon to a new owner.

Mr Hay said Echelon was moved to NSW days after the allegation was raised with Echelon’s new owner, perhaps by coincidence.

The alleged incident was not investigated further, so the magistrate said it had no bearing on the case.

TAS_MER_NEWS_DRUGDIVERSION_29MAY18

Because he could not rule out that another attack could occur, Mr Hay ordered Echelon be muzzled, wear an approved collar, harness and leash not exceeding 2m and said the Great Dane must only be walked by an adult.

Mr Hay said if McCulloch had not refused to pay an initial $622 infringement notice against him in November 2018, he would have avoided the lengthy legal stoush.

The magistrate noted McCulloch had pleaded not guilty at the beginning of proceedings.

“The defendant rolled the dice and he was not successful,” Mr Hay said.

The magistrate said he had been told legal costs of the counsel had totalled $21,685.

He ordered McCulloch pay a portion of the complainant’s legal costs at a rate to be determined by the Supreme Court scale of costs.

He fined McCulloch $500 and recorded a conviction against him and ordered him to pay Ty’s owner’s vet bills of $2949.59.

Police officer bitten during arrest waited months for test results

A POLICE officer bitten while arresting a man who’d assaulted a woman atop Mt Wellington spent months waiting for blood test results, the Supreme Court has heard.

On Wednesday, Ashley Dean Brown faced Justice Gregory Geason after punching his girlfriend’s mother during a family outing at The Springs during October 2019, causing her to fall and gash her head on a rock.

On returning to Hobart, Brown then used a hockey stick to smash the windows of a black Subaru Forester, then reversing his car into the vehicle.

At his Gagebrook home, Brown then assaulted three police officers who arrested him – biting one to the arm, another to the finger, and kicking a third, female officer to the head.

Crown prosecutor Luke Ogden said Brown left teeth marks in a constable’s arm, having bit hard and not letting go for “some time”, until police punched his face and he released his grip.

When Brown then bit another officer’s finger, police deployed OC spray to “immediate effect”.

Mr Ogden said the assaults were captured on body-worn footage, and that the police officer with the punctured arm had to wait months for test results.

Defence barrister Pip Monk said the 32-year-old had been addicted to the drug ice but was now abstinent.

She said the incident that unfolded at his Gagebrook address had progressed “very, very quickly” and that “this was a fast-moving, highly-agitated scenario”.

Ms Monk said Brown had made an offer to apologise to the police officers involved and had consented to a blood test to “put the officer’s mind at rest about a communicable disease risk”.

Brown, who was held in custody between October 2019 and March 2020, was remanded in custody again by Justice Geason on Wednesday.

“His time in custody was a wake-up call,” Ms Monk said.

Brown has pleaded guilty assault, unlawfully injuring property, and three counts of assaulting a police officer.

He will be sentenced on September 7.

Child sexual abuse victim recalls years of ‘gaslighting’

DISGRACED Launceston arts collector and prominent scientist John Wayne Millwood, who was jailed for molesting a young boy during the 1980s, is now being sued by his victim.

Millwood was released from Risdon Prison in March 2019, having served two years for abusing the child under the guise of carrying out medical examinations between 1983 to 1989.

The high-profile 2016 case made headlines as Millwood had honorary titles stripped from his name and subsequently lost a 2017 appeal waged by former Director of Public Prosecutions, Tim Ellis SC.

Convicted child sexual abuser and high-profile former Launceston arts patron John Wayne Millwood.

The-now 47-year-old survivor appeared in the Supreme Court of Tasmania via video link on Monday, claiming Millwood had spent years stalking, harassing, threatening and “gaslighting” him after he confronted the former Launceston pathology practice boss in 1999.

The man was a high-achieving student and says he was set to enjoy a successful career, but was weighed down by post traumatic stress disorder and persistent depressive disorder due to battery and assault suffered at Millwood’s hands.

He is now fighting for damages, an award for past and future medical and therapeutic expenses, loss of past and future earnings, and aggravated damages.

The 75-year-old, who was banned by the Parole Board of Tasmania from ever returning to Launceston, did not appear in person at Monday’s civil trial in Hobart.

His victim had not known until the morning of the trial whether or not Millwood would turn up to cross-examine him.

The victim is being represented by prominent barrister Matthew Collins QC, a silk who has acted for the likes of Rebel Wilson, Andrew Bolt, and Nine when it was being sued by Joe Hockey.

Dr Collins argued before Chief Justice Alan Blow that Millwood had compounded the man’s suffering with his “manipulativeness” and by making “outrageous” claims, including that the abuse was done without assault and with the victim’s consent.

John Millwood.

The man, in giving evidence, said Millwood had sent him abusive letters for a number of years, and that he’d call him a “lunatic” and suggested he was delusional.

“He would often call me and threaten suicide if I told anyone what happened. That kind of conduct directly influenced my depression. That kind of conduct escalated over time to harassment and stalking,” he told the court.

“I found it horrendous as the victim of child sexual abuse, that I was being blamed for it.

“It was what you call gaslighting - playing with a person’s sense of sanity. It made me feel like they were trying to dismantle me.”

Millwood was an art enthusiast and instrumental behind the establishment of the John Glover Society in 2002 and in having a $110,000 statue of Glover installed at Evandale during 2003.

Calls were later made for the statue to be removed amid claims it looked more like Millwood than Glover.

Millwood was sentenced to four years’ jail in December 2016 after he ultimately pleaded guilty to one count of maintaining a sexual relationship with a young person.

He successfully applied for parole after about two years in custody.

Chief Justice Blow reserved his decision, to deliver at a date to be determined.

Follow @ambervwilson

Originally published as Echelon the dog avoids being put down after brutally attacking border collie in Pontville