{"id":578819,"date":"2026-08-24T13:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T13:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/578819\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T13:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T13:10:11","slug":"no-charges-over-christchurch-dog-attack-that-killed-young-boy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/578819\/","title":{"rendered":"No charges over Christchurch dog attack that killed young boy"},"content":{"rendered":"

No charges will be laid over the dog attack that killed a one-year-old Christchurch boy earlier this month, with the dog involved due to be euthanised this week.<\/p>\n

Sonny-Charles Watson, 1, died after being bitten by a dog at a home in Basingstoke St, Aranui on August 14<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In confirming no charges would be laid, police said the death would be referred to the Coroner. <\/p>\n

Detective Senior Sergeant Dan Overend said previously that a young child was found in a critical condition at the scene.<\/p>\n

“Despite the immediate efforts of first responders and a member of the household, the child sadly died at the scene,” Overend said.<\/p>\n

The dog was known to the occupants and lived at the address.<\/p>\n

Christchurch City Council confirmed the dog remained at its animal shelter.<\/p>\n

“It is scheduled to be euthanised this week.”<\/p>\n

The council previously said the crossbreed was registered and had not previously come to its attention. <\/p>\n

\"Sonny-Charles<\/p>\n

Sonny-Charles Watson died in a fatal dog attack in Aranui on Friday. Source: Instagram (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n

‘Ray of sunshine’: Parents mourn their baby boy<\/p>\n

Sonny’s parents, in a statement released through police<\/a>, described their son as the light of everyone’s life.<\/p>\n

“Sonny was not just the light of our lives but everyone he came in contact with. The most beautiful little boy, full of love and laughter for everyone. Shine bright our ray of sunshine,” they said.<\/p>\n

In an earlier tribute posted to social media, the parents said they had lost their “wee sunshine” and asked for time to grieve.<\/p>\n

“Fly high sunshine. Love you forever,” they wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"No charges will be laid over the dog attack that killed a one-year-old Christchurch boy earlier this month,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[158,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-578819","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-christchurch-canterbury","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578819","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=578819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}