Dog owner whose 'evil' Dobermann attacked a child in Leigh Park is jailed for 10 months

Leigh Park dog owner Lisa Garner, 45, of Botley Drive, appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court prepared to face justice after admitting a charge of being the owner in charge of a dangerously out of control dog causing injury.

The horror attack saw the toddler taken to Queen Alexandra Hospital for surgery after she was set upon by the muzzleless Dobermann, called El Chapo, at around 5.15pm on Monday August 8 in Botley Drive. The infant had been walking back from a nearby shop with her grandparents when she was mauled by the wild animal - which has since been destroyed by police.

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The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was saved as neighbours battled El Chapo while Garner struggled to control her vicious dog.

Speaking of the incident, prosecutor Martyn Booth said the grandparents were walking and chatting with Garner when the attack happened as the girl moved from behind her grandparents to where the dog was. ‘There was no particular sudden movement,’ he said. ‘Nothing that can in any way be suggested as provocative. But the dog just went for her.’

He said it ‘grabbed her round her torso and threw her to the floor’, before adding: ‘It was supremely powerful compared to a three-year-old child.’

The prosecutor said witnesses described seeing the dog ‘chucking’ her and ‘wouldn’t let go’ as it latched onto her stomach area before various people started to help - including a neighbour and a lady in a car. ‘They became involved with little thought for their own personal safety,’ he said. ‘It was extremely brave of them with both their actions going some way to make a dreadful situation not becoming much much worse.’

They kicked, pinched and punched the animal before it finally stopped biting as the girl ‘screamed throughout’, the court heard.

Speaking after the sentence, the girl’s mum told The News: ‘I’m just happy we’ve got justice for my little girl. I’ve got nothing to say about (Garner). I’m just glad she’s gone down for it.’

Speaking of how her child now is, she added: ‘She is doing amazingly. But she still has scars on her thigh and back from it.’

Another family member said: ‘(The sentence) is brilliant news. It’s awful what happened.’

Judge William Ashworth told a tearful Garner: ‘You described your dog as “looking evil but was a big donut”. That speaks volumes of your attitude.’

The judge said it was a ‘very powerful dog that should have been on a muzzle at the very least’ before adding: ‘If you have a very large and powerful ex-guard dog you have to take steps to protect other people.’

Judge Ashworth also commended the ‘true courage’ shown by the grandparents and those who helped release the girl in the ‘face of the terrifying dog’.

Garner, who was convicted for driving with excess drugs in her system a month before the incident, was also disqualified from owning a dog for 10 years.

A victim impact statement from the girl’s mum, read to the court, said: ‘She now screams in her sleep and wakes up screaming because she’s frightened.’

The court heard that locals had fears over Garner and her control over her muzzle-less dogs. A previous incident where her dog attacked a cat was ‘boasted’ about by Garner, Mr Booth said.

Garner’s defence barrister Damian Hayes told the court how she had struggled following the death of her daughter Payton Sparks, who was killed in a car crash aged 16. It happened when her boyfriend Lewis Young, then 19, lost control of a stolen Vauxhall Tigra which left the road before striking a telegraph pole and a tree before hitting part of Staunton Country Park premises on May 25 in 2013.

Young, of Havant, was jailed for eight years for causing death by dangerous driving. Recently, since his release, Young was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 12 years for kidnapping and raping a woman at knifepoint.

For the recent crime Young, 28, was jailed at Winchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to kidnap, rape, assault by penetration, possession of a knife, dangerous driving and driving whilst disqualified. He kidnapped the woman in Bournemouth and drove her to Salisbury.

In what was described by prosecutors as a ‘monstrous attack on a stranger’, Young admitted he had planned to kidnap and rape a woman so that he would be returned to prison.

Speaking of the impact of Garner’s daughter’s death on her, the lawyer said: ‘Dogs have formed an important part of her life particularly after the tragic incident when she lost her daughter some 10 years ago.’

He added that Garner felt ‘shame and regret’ following the ‘harrowing’ incident. She was described as an ‘isolated’ and ‘vulnerable’ figure.

The savaging caused outrage in the community, with locals telling The News of their anger at seeing Garner’s dogs barking aggressively and not wearing muzzles before El Chapo - the same name as a former Mexican drug lord who was one of the most powerful traffickers in the world - pounced on the girl. One said their dog had previously been attacked by one of Garner’s Dobermanns and that they were known in the area.

Police charged Garner with the offence after deliberating for two months.