Father of woman mauled to death 'deeply wounded and changed forever'

The rottweilers that killed the 31-year-old woman were notoriously aggressive. Photo / Thinkstock

The father of a woman mauled to death by a pair of notoriously aggressive rottweilers has told a court he is "deeply wounded and changed forever".

A 53-year-old man appeared in North Shore District Court today where he was sentenced to a year's home detention for owning dogs that caused the death of the 31-year-old woman.

His name was suppressed by Judge David Sharp to protect fair trial rights.

The defendant will be before the High Court next year, defending allegations of significant drug offending. The victim's name was also suppressed by the judge.

Her father, a school principal, described her as "sensitive, vulnerable and very beautiful".

She had gone through four rehabilitation programmes to address her drug addiction and had been clean for seven months around the time of her death.

"The old [daughter] was back, then the dogs killed her," he said.

The family's pain had been compounded by the fact he had been unable to see his daughter after the incident. "The injuries to her head were so gruesome we [weren't] able to see her face," he said.

He hoped the offender would turn his life around for the sake of his own daughter.

In March last year, in the early hours of the morning, the victim went to see the 53-year-old at his home on the North Shore.

She was met by the dogs but went inside without incident.

However, when the offender had gone to bed she went outside, where two of the rottweilers - one that had been loose and one that had slipped its chain - mauled her.

The dogs' owner provided CCTV footage of the event to police, who charged him a month later.

The court heard today how the dogs had been well known in the district for attacking cattle, postmen and passing vehicles.

The two that mauled the woman to death were destroyed, along with another that had been locked in a car on the property.

Hearing what they were like bewildered the victim's father.

"Why do people keep such vicious, dangerous dogs?" he said.

As well as sentencing the offender to the maximum term of home detention, Judge Sharp gave him 150 hours' community work and order him to pay $25,000 as emotional harm reparation.

He was banned from owning dogs.