A trial at Liverpool Crown Court has heard McColl wandered onto the driveway of Garner’s property in Bardsley Avenue at about 18:00 GMT on 24 February 2025.
“After he entered the defendant’s driveway, that dog, that XL bully, attacked him and it just would not let him go,” David Birrell, prosecuting, said.
“People tried to help him. Grown men, with weapons, hitting the dog. But it was no use, the dog would not let him go.
“The dog guarded him as if he were its prey. It savaged him.”
He said the jury would hear expert evidence that the dog had not been fed for some time.
“The expert will also tell us that the dog appeared to be guarding Mr McColl as if he were its food, its prey,” he added.
Police officers who were called to the scene could not get to McColl, so firearms officers attended and shot the dog nine times with a pistol and once with a shotgun, the court heard.
“That is how much ammunition was required to neutralise this large, powerful, savage dog,” Birrell said.
A second dog, called Malibu, was also shot by police who “didn’t take any chances”, Birrell said.
The jury was told Garner avoided police for two days before handing himself in on 26 February.
Text messages showed he contacted family members and “made light of the situation”, Birrell said.