Magistrates have ordered the destruction of a dog that left a nine-year-old girl scarred for life in an unprovoked attack.

The victim described how she was now terrified of dogs after she was bitten by Diane Mahoney's Alsatian-Japanese Akita crossbreed dog in June.

Mahoney, 38, was yesterday given a two-year conditional discharge by Bradford magistrates after being found guilty of being responsible for a dog that was dangerously out of control in a public place.

They ordered her to pay the girl £2,000 compensation and that the dog should be destroyed.

In a statement read to the court the youngster, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, described how she had to undergo an operation after the attack.

She said: "I'm really, really scared of dogs. I get anxious and terrified if I have heard a dog bark. I run away and start shaking."

The court was told that the girl had been to Mahoney's house in Spencer Road, Lidget Green, Bradford, with her mother and brother to see some kittens. When her brother unlocked the back garden gate the six-year-old dog, Kane, shot out.

The girl's mother, who cannot be named to protect the victim's identity, told the court the dog went straight for her daughter, biting her on the back of the knee and "dragging her around like a ragdoll".

The girl was taken to hospital and had to have an operation. She has a further appointment with plastic surgeons in September and has been left with two scars.

Her mother said in a statement: "It has changed her from an outgoing, happy girl who has grown emotionally timid."

Solicitor Rashid Majid, for Mahoney, urged magistrates not to have the dog put down and handed them a number of statements, one from Mahoney's neighbour who said that neither he nor his children had had problems with the dog.

"It was an act out-of-character, something which they never expected and still to this day cannot explain," said Mr Majid. He told the court that there have not been any further problems and that his client had put up a notice on her gate saying beware of the dog'.

But chairman of the Bench, Granville Dobson, told the defendant: "The magistrates on this bench are dog-lovers, Mrs Mahoney.

"We believe that you have taken many precautions to keep this dog locked up, however, we must make an order for the dog's destruction.

"We believe that the punishment of having the dog destroyed is punishment for the offence and have taken this action after considerable soul-searching."

Mahoney was also ordered to pay £264 in court costs.

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