Bay of Plenty dog owners banned from breeding after child attacked, hospitalised

Richard Malkin and Sheree Kearney can no longer breed dogs after their sire attacked and "seriously injured" a 5-year-old girl.

A 5-year-old was “screaming for her mum” as a dog repeatedly bit her while the owners looked on, unable to stop the attack.

The girl’s mother said as the dog started biting, time seemed to slow.

“I feared she’d lost half of her face,” she said.

However, the dog primarily injured the girl’s legs and hands.

It has been more than two years since the girl, who has name suppression, suffered the serious injuries, but her mother still replays the event and wonders what more she could have done to protect her daughter.

This week, the Black Russian terrier’s owners, Richard Malkin and Sheree Kearney, were sentenced in the Tauranga District Court, where emotions ran high as the child’s mother read her victim impact statement.

“You both stood by as my mother and I fought that dog off my daughter,” she said, as she fought back tears.

“And it makes me so cross that you never at any time put your body in front of my daughter. She was 5 and screaming for her mum.”

The mother had taken two of her children, and her mother, to collect a puppy from the dog breeders when the sire attacked the young schoolgirl.

The mother told the court the attack had a profound impact, and while the girl had physically recovered, there were ongoing effects.

Richard Malkin and Sheree Kearney outside the Tauranga District Court before their sentencing on Wednesday.

“A harmless encounter with a puppy at the lake caused her to jump off the end of the jetty in terror, even though she had no ability to swim,” she said, referring to a later incident involving a different dog.

The mother remains angry at Malkin and Kearney, and questions their remorse. She feels their regret centres on “being caught”.

At the sentencing, it was heard the family followed Malkin and Kearney’s instructions, as they had done on a previous visit without incident, to text before coming onto the property so the adult dogs could be locked in the house.

However, as the mother was arranging a bank transfer, and her daughter was with the puppies, she heard Malkin say, “Oh my God, he’s out”.

The sire, named Echo, went straight for the girl.

The mother told NZME before sentencing that her daughter was lifted off the ground during the attack.

The girl’s grandmother had managed to pry open the dog’s mouth, pull out the girl’s hand, and stop the attack.

The girl was hospitalised after the attack, and still has scarring on her legs. Image/Supplied

Kearney and Malkin were prosecuted by the Western Bay of Plenty District Council and, after a resolution was reached, pleaded guilty to the charge of owning a dog that attacked and caused serious injury to the child.

Kearney’s lawyer Rachael Adams acknowledged the “deeply traumatic experience for the child,” which had left “physical and emotional scars”.

She said both Malkin and Kearney were “deeply distressed and deeply remorseful for the attack and the injuries to the child”.

The only aspect of the mother’s impact statement Adams wanted to clarify was the suggestion the pair had done nothing to intervene.

Adams said their account was that Kearney lost her balance and fell over, and the summary of facts said Malkin had “attempted to grab and control [the dog] without success”.

Judge Paul Geoghegan noted this aspect of the events remained in dispute.

Adams told the judge Malkin and Kearney had a system for containing the dogs, which included two sets of doors and reversed door handles that had to be pushed upwards. There was a latch lock on one of the doors.

She said it still wasn’t clear exactly how the dogs got out.

Adams said someone must have made a mistake, but “quite how, and at what point, may never be known”.

Kearney recalled shutting both doors, but accepted the latch lock was not in place, and believed this may have been how they got out.

Adams referred to material from a vet and a dog trainer, provided to the court, which suggested the pair, and in particular Kearney, had been responsible dog owners.

“Despite this being a loved pet, without hesitation, Ms Kearney and Mr Malkin had the dog put down the following day... It’s to their credit and a reflection... of their responsible dog ownership.”

Adams said part of an agreement with the council meant Kearney would be disqualified from owning dogs.

“As a lifelong dog owner and animal-lover, this is a deeply distressing consequence for her,” Adams said.

However, the girl’s mother told Judge Geoghegan she understood this hadn’t been the first time the dog had been aggressive, and the pair knew they had a dangerous dog.

“I believe it was preventable and I do not believe this was a one-off,” she told the judge.

But the judge said the only information the court had was that they had been, until the time of the attack, responsible dog owners.

“That is the evidence before me...” he said.

“This is not a case where an owner has, despite knowing problems with an animal, released the animal from private property onto public property. Or who has failed to make any effort or attempt to secure the dogs.”

Judge Geoghegan said, “while tragic”, the incident was possibly the result of an “oversight”.

He offered words of reassurance that there was nothing the mother could have done to prevent the incident and she should not feel responsible.

The judge ordered both Malkin and Kearney to pay an emotional harm payment of $1500 each.

“The actions taken by the council effectively mean the dog breeding business you had previously undertaken has come to a halt, that is a significant penalty in itself.”

The Western Bay of Plenty District Council confirmed an agreement between the council and the defendants was reached after consultation with the victim’s family.

The agreement meant that while both pleaded guilty, the council undertook to disqualify only Kearney, who was the dog’s owner, provided Malkin agreed not to breed any dogs – either commercially or for private purposes.

“The council considered that this was the best outcome in the public interest,” a statement from the council said.

Hannah Bartlett is a Tauranga-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She previously covered court and local government for the Nelson Mail, and before that was a radio reporter at Newstalk ZB.