Attack dog to be destroyed

A judge has ruled that a dog which grabbed a young girl by the wrist and dragged her away screaming will have to be destroyed.

Ipswich Crown Court heard last week how Zorro, an alsatian-labrador cross, allegedly bit the girl’s father on the ankle and then her mother on the thigh as she ran towards her daughter.

The attack took place on January 23 after Gary and Zoe O’Mahoney had gone to the home of Kristina Litvinaite-Fortuin to discuss a possible home swap.

Prosecutor Mark Roochove told the jury that Zorro had emerged from the front door and bitten Mr O’Mahoney and then his wife before targeting their daughter Sarah, who was standing nearby.

Litvinaite-Fortuin was found not guilty of one offence of being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control in a public place but unanimously guilty of a second similar offence involving five-year-old Sarah.

After the jury returned its verdicts, Judge David Goodin told Litvinaite-Fortuin that she would have to return to court on a date yet to be fixed to be sentenced.

The guilty verdict means that Zorro will have to be destroyed.

Litvinaite-Fortuin was released on conditional bail.