A Scamander businesswoman has been fined $3000 and banned from owning dogs for 10 years after her two mastiffs mauled a small King Charles spaniel, causing fatal injuries last year.
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Shelley Slaghuis appeared in the Hobart Magistrates Court on July 2 after pleading guilty to several animal control charges, including two counts of failing to ensure a dog is not at large, two counts of a dog attacking animal causing death, and two counts of a dog rushing person in a public place.
The small spaniel, Cee-Jay, was being walked by its owner Linda Bowerman when the two escaped mastiffs seized it on Alex Court, south of Kingston Beach in September last year.
The court heard that Cee-Jay suffered serious injuries, including lacerations of his hip and hind leg, and a deep 30-centimetre gash in his chest and shoulder area that exposed internals.
The court heard that Ms Bowerman was "distraught" after witnessing the brutal attack on her dog, which she had owned for three years.
She was "traumatised" after deciding to euthanise Cee-Jay several days later.
Magistrate Chris Webster noted that Ms Slaghuis had been charged and fined three months earlier for a similar incident in which her two mastiffs rushed an elderly lady, knocking her to the ground.
Following that incident, Ms Slaghuis was fined and ordered to keep her dogs leashed and muzzled.
The court heard that witnesses had stated that they did not see the dogs wearing muzzles during the fatal attack on September 8, 2023.
One witness to the attack said through written testimony that he initially thought the two "massive" mastiffs were playing tug-of-war with a cloth toy or rag.
But as he approached, he realised that the two dogs were savaging the smaller spaniel.
The witness heard Ms Slaghuis say, "I'm in trouble, aren't I," in the wake of the attack.
The Kingsborough Council prosecutor requested the maximum fine and a ban on Ms Slaghuis owning dogs.
Ms Slaghuis, who was not represented by a lawyer, told the court that the dogs had accidentally escaped her yard after the gate was left open by local neighbourhood children.
In a tearful address to the court, she said she was "hugely remorseful" of the incident and deeply regretted the pain that her actions had caused.
When Mr Webster asked Ms Slaghuis why she had not properly secured her gate, she responded, "I'm guilty of that, your honour."
She said even after the first incident, when her dogs - Samson and Zuru - charged an elderly lady and knocked her over, she did not believe them to be dangerous.
She told the court she had paid Ms Bowerman's vet bills and had taken the decision to euthanise her two dogs following the incident.
"They have never shown aggression before this ... I had them put down within two hours of this happening," she told the court.
Breaking down in tears, Ms Slaghuis said she had been "drained" and "traumatised" by a legal battle with her ex-partner over control of her business, the Pelican Sands Scamander Hotel.
She also said that even though the two mastiffs were registered to her, they belonged to her estranged ex-partner.
Mr Webster fined her the maximum of $3000 and ordered her to pay Kingborough Council's prosecution costs, which he said would amount to "substantially more" than the fine.
He also banned her from owning dogs for 10 years.
