maximum sentence<\/a> of three years in prison or a $20,000 fine.<\/p>\nSwung his head viciously from side to side<\/p>\n
The court heard that Hunter was classified as dangerous, and Iris was classified as menacing, on December 6, 2023, because of a previous attack on a person, aggressive behaviour, and roaming.<\/p>\n
The pair were to be muzzled in public and controlled on a leash.<\/p>\n
On September 25, 2024, the 9-year-old victim and his sister were playing on the footpath outside their home in Norrie St, Hamilton.<\/p>\n
Court documents state Hunter, who is tri-coloured, and Iris, black and tan, ran out of an alleyway on Norrie St and headed straight, towards the children \u201cin an aggressive manner\u201d. <\/p>\n
The victim and his sister saw the dogs and turned to run home, screaming.<\/p>\n
The dogs chased them onto their property, where Hunter bit the boy on his forearm.<\/p>\n
One of Thompson\u2019s neighbours witnessed the attack and called the two dogs away.<\/p>\n
Hunter and Iris then ran back across the street towards the neighbour and jumped up at him.<\/p>\n
The victim put his elbow out to ward Hunter off but was bitten. <\/p>\n
Thinking the attack was over, the neighbour then turned to walk back home but Hunter ran towards him and jumped back over Thompson\u2019s fence onto the footpath where he was standing.<\/p>\n
Hunter then bit the back of the man\u2019s right thigh, latching on and swinging his head \u201cviciously\u201d from side to side, pulling the victim to the ground.<\/p>\n
After a short time, Hunter let him go and returned home to Thompson\u2019s property.<\/p>\n
Realising that he was seriously injured, the victim called an ambulance and was taken to hospital.<\/p>\n
He underwent surgery for a \u201clarge laceration\u201d of a skin flap, approximately 15x10cm, on his thigh.<\/p>\n
The man, who has suffered nightmares, received skin grafts and required an overnight stay in hospital.<\/p>\n
The child suffered puncture wounds, bruising, and scratches to his forearm.<\/p>\n
They were both on the road<\/p>\n
When spoken to by police, Thompson said on the evening of the attack she heard children yelling and came out of her house to see what was happening. She saw Hunter and Iris on the road.<\/p>\n
She said her neighbour had hold of a chain that was attached to Iris, and she called both dogs back to her.<\/p>\n
Hunter came back, but then he heard Iris \u201cmake noise\u201d, so he jumped the fence and attacked the neighbour.<\/p>\n
Seeking destruction of Hunter<\/p>\n
The council is now seeking the destruction of Hunter, and reparation for both victims.<\/p>\n
In the event a fine is handed down, the council is seeking that half be paid to them.<\/p>\n
Both Hunter and Iris have previously come to the council\u2019s attention for \u201cattacks on people and dogs, aggressive behaviour and roaming\u201d.<\/p>\n
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 11 years and has been a journalist for 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now their owner, Maria Thompson, has appeared in the Hamilton District Court. Thompson was due to stand trial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5660,2511,55138,8452,9219,42,20214,26981,3244,43,1118,3111,1120,40,38,41,39,255889],"class_list":["post-515233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-attacks","tag-child","tag-chunk","tag-dangerous","tag-dog","tag-headlines","tag-hunter","tag-leg","tag-neighbours","tag-news","tag-of","tag-out","tag-takes","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-unmuzzled"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=515233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/515233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/515234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=515233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=515233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=515233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}