A man who shouted “kill” before setting his Staffordshire bull terrier on a 51-year-old widow stood trial at Arbroath Sheriff Court.
She said, “The dog ran for her. It ran right towards her then stopped at her right foot and started wagging its back end. I was in utter shock. I couldn’t move.”
Ms Balfour added that Ms Taylor also seemed “stunned” by the incident, before the dog was called back by Murray.
Before the two women returned indoors to call the police, Ms Taylor told Murray, “Your dog is better behaved than you are.”
Murray took the stand and although he admitted verbally abusing Ms Taylor, he denied shouting the word “kill” or making any command that would cause his pet to attack.
He said, “I was just mucking about with the dog because it chases the light. There was no music coming from my house so I told her to go away.
“She started swearing and shouting at me, so I shone the light on her to annoy her. The dog saw it on her and went towards her.”
Murray admitted that he had been drinking in the afternoon running up to the incident, claiming he had around four beers.
His girlfriend Amber Barthorpe (18) who had been in the group at the door also gave evidence, claiming she had been involved in disputes over noise with Ms Taylor prior to that evening.
Sheriff Derek Pyle deferred sentence on Murray for good behaviour until July 19.
Thomas Murray (23), of Emislaw Drive, Arbroath, was found guilty of assaulting Helen Taylor (51) and Lena Balfour (44), by unleashing his dog outside his home address on April 17 and repeatedly shouting “kill”.
He was also found guilty of repeatedly setting the dog on Ms Taylor.
Murray had previously admitted assaulting her by shining a laser torch in her eyes during the same incident.
The court heard both of the victims lived in the same block of flats and had come outside to confront the dog owner and a group of friends about excess noise.
Ms Taylor was first to be called to the witness stand where she claimed she had simply gone outside to ask them to “keep the noise down” when a confrontation occurred.
She said, “My neighbour Lena Balfour had phoned me concerned about the noise and asked if I had heard it.”
After going outside to the bottom floor entrance to the block, Ms Taylor became involved in an argument with Murray and was verbally abused.
“I asked them to keep the noise down and he shone a light in my eyes,” she said. “He shouted ‘kill’ and the dog came right up to my right foot.”
Depute fiscal Arlene Shaw asked if anything else had happened when the dog approached and how the incident had made her feel.
Ms Taylor said, “The dog just sat down at my foot. I just stood still because I didn’t know what the dog was going to do. He called the dog Bruno and it went back to him. I was just shaken and in shock.”
Ms Balfour had been standing next to Ms Taylor throughout the incident, although the court heard she might not have been visible to Murray.
In her evidence, she said Ms Taylor had informed Murray that there were children in the house trying to sleep, only for her to be told, “Shut up and mind your own business.”
Ms Balfour confirmed a laser pen had been shone into her neighbour’s eyes and that the dog approached her twice after being instructed to “kill”.
Continued…