Ponteix, Saskatchewan
Canada
Normal
Two
13-year-old girls, Kayla Keith and Zoe Desautels, walk along a small
town street with 14-year-old friend Jasper Gian. They pass in front of
Robert Charles Carpenter’s
house, where he lives with Saphrine Ng and several dogs. Carpenter
breeds Labrador Retrievers. Five of his dogs see the children
approaching, and leave the yard through a broken gate. They approach the three young teens.
Not
The
dogs surround the children, circling them. Kayla later testifies that she lives with dogs, including a large dog, and is comfortable with them, but that these dogs appear unfriendly, their tails aren’t wagging, and they quickly become aggressive; one bites Kayla on the hand, another bites Zoe hard but without breaking skin. The teens stand
close together, and the dogs jump at them.
Jasper rides his bike away, luring the dogs away from the girls, and rides to a friend’s house. The dogs chase him; when he drops the bike and runs toward the house, one dog bites him on the thigh. The girls, meanwhile, head for Zoe’s house to escape.
The dogs return and surround the girls again. Kayla takes a step back, and the dogs attack her. From that point, they focus on her, which gives Zoe a chance to run for help. Kayla tries to put a tree between herself and the dogs, but they run around it and knock her down, then attack her while she’s on the ground. They bite her arms and legs, pinning her down as she kicks and pushes at them. She manages to get up, and run to a nearby house. As she runs up the steps of the house, the dogs continue to attack, and she continues to kick them off – she says they back off a little every time she kicks, but keep coming back. She says there are a lot of hard bites, some puncturing her skin and some not.
Jasper rides his bike away, luring the dogs away from the girls, and rides to a friend’s house. The dogs chase him; when he drops the bike and runs toward the house, one dog bites him on the thigh. The girls, meanwhile, head for Zoe’s house to escape.
The dogs return and surround the girls again. Kayla takes a step back, and the dogs attack her. From that point, they focus on her, which gives Zoe a chance to run for help. Kayla tries to put a tree between herself and the dogs, but they run around it and knock her down, then attack her while she’s on the ground. They bite her arms and legs, pinning her down as she kicks and pushes at them. She manages to get up, and run to a nearby house. As she runs up the steps of the house, the dogs continue to attack, and she continues to kick them off – she says they back off a little every time she kicks, but keep coming back. She says there are a lot of hard bites, some puncturing her skin and some not.
Vicious dog owner says
When it becomes clear that authorities are serious about the attack, Robert Carpenter admits that one of the five dogs, Rainbow, has bitten before. He blames the attack on her and says he'll euthanize her, but claims the other dogs - Joey, Winnie, Lily, Chubbs - were blameless.
During the trial, Carpenter blames the victims, saying that Kayla provoked her attack by running away and that people should know better than to look dogs in the eye and run away from them. He also maintains that the dogs were just playing, that they routinely play-fight very roughly among themselves, and that the reason he thinks the attack was just play was that they could have done more damage to the victims if they'd wanted to.
Judge says
Every judge who looks at the case is unimpressed with Carpenter's perspective. It's best summed up by the sentencing judge:
I consider Mr. Carpenter’s general attitude to the dogs and his
downplaying of the seriousness of the attack as a relevant consideration. I
find that Mr. Carpenter lacks insight into the seriousness of the attack on the
teens. He also lacks insight into the potential harm that the dogs present to
other people. In his argument at trial, as well as in his sentencing
submissions, he held to the belief that the teens in some way provoked the
dogs. He had argued that by running away, Kayla provoked the attack, as people
should know not to look dogs in the eyes and not to run if they come up to
them.
[37]
Mr. Carpenter does not understand that the cause of the attack does not
lie in the actions of the victims but in the aggressive actions of the dogs. I
found that Mr. Carpenter generally sees the attack as the dogs playing, as that
is how his dogs aggressively play and play fight. He said his dogs pretend to
attack each other and play around and that is just dog behaviour. He contends
that only Rainbow bit anyone, despite all of the witnesses, being the three teens,
describing all of the dogs attacking and biting.
[38]
Mr. Carpenter’s statement that the dogs could have done much more harm
if they were serious about doing harm also shows his lack of insight into the
degree of harm done to the two teens, as he minimizes the harm done to them.
[39]
Mr. Carpenter’s lack of insight to the danger that his dogs present
leaves me little confidence that he would be responsible in the long term to
ensure that his dogs did not harm another person.
Consequences
Jasper Gian (14) was chased by a pack of large dogs and bitten on the thigh.
Zoe Desautels (13) was traumatized from hearing her friend being mauled by dogs and screaming.
Kayla Keith (13) was bitten hard and repeatedly on her upper and lower thigh, calf and knee areas.
The 5 dogs were ordered humanely euthanized.
Robert Charles Carpenter was found guilty of two counts of owning dogs that attacked people, and repeatedly appealed the euthanization order. He has not surrendered the dogs to authorities as required, and has been charged with obstruction.
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