Guilty plea in dog attack against girls, senior

The owner of a pit bull that attacked two young girls and an elderly man in Calgary has pleaded guilty to several offences and was fined $3,000.

Brenda Louise Byer, 27, was originally charged with 12 bylaw offences. After she pleaded guilty to three charges in court Tuesday, the rest of the charges were thrown out.

Byer was fined $1,000 on three charges of being the owner of an animal involved in an attack causing serious injuries.

After pleading not guilty in August, Byer had been scheduled to go to trial Thursday morning.

Although witnesses saw two dogs during the separate attacks last summer, Byer's plea only involves one pit bull. That dog was caught, impounded, and put down following the second attack.

Similar attacks in the northeast

The charges against Byer came after two similar attacks in the northeast last year.

In May, two dogs attacked an elderly man sitting outside his Tarawood Place home. His injuries had to be treated at a hospital.

Eyewitnesses said a van pulled up following the attack and a woman put the dogs in the back and drove away.

A similar attack happened in nearby Saddle Ridge in June.

A man delivering flyers on Saddlemont Way was attacked by two dogs. He was able to block them with a delivery cart, but the animals went on to bite two young girls walking with their grandfather on Saddlemont Close.

One of the dogs was picked up by a woman in a van who then drove off, according to witnesses who spoke to animal services. The other dog was caught and held by animal services.

The dog was never claimed and was put down.

The attack sent the two girls — Bhavkiran Mahal, 3, and her sister Perveen, 4 — to hospital where they were bandaged and stitched up.