Dog owner avoids jail over attack on girl, 11

A man who admitted being the owner of what is believed to be an XL bully that injured an 11-year-old girl in Birmingham has been given a two-year suspended sentence.

Farhat Ajaz, 62, of Bordesley Close, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at Birmingham Crown Court to three counts of owning a dog which caused injury while dangerously out of control.

The girl suffered shoulder and arm injuries in September 2023, during an attack by the dog, named Tyson.

Two other men were injured as they tried to intervene.

The court heard the dog was "likely to be an XL bully". The attack was one of several around the country before the government announced plans to ban the breed.

During the hearing, the judge was told Ajaz had also threatened to kill a former partner during a campaign of harassment.

The court heard he had been subject to a lifelong licence at the time of the offences, after he had been jailed in 1979 and served 25 years before his 2004 release.

CCTV showing the dog attacking the girl, was played in court. Further footage showed attacks on the men, Numaan Ahmed and Yousef Ahmadzai.

In mitigation, Ekwal Tiwana, called the dog attack a "sheer act of stupidity".

He told the court Ajaz got the dog for his son and had been on long-term licence after being jailed for 25 years when he was just 15.

Mr Tiwana pointed out his client’s guilty plea, remorse, attempts to stop the attack and array of health issues including chest, lung and heart problems, but the judge said the attack had been "horrific".

Judge Heidi Kubik KC said: "You were out and about on the street with the dog, even at that stage not in the best of health and frankly not in a capable state of restraining the dog, who was not muzzled at the time.

"It set about attacking three separate people including an 11-year-old girl. It was a horrific attack. She was undoubtedly and rightly terrified."

The judge said the "vile, threatening and abusive" harassment of a former partner in 2022 on its own merited a custodial sentence.

Ajaz had lung disease and cardiac problems, the court heard.

The judge said: "Bearing in mind your guilty pleas and the health conditions that you now suffer, I take the view that it would not be in the interests of justice to send you to immediate custody.”

Ajaz was banned from owning a dog for the rest of his life and made subject to a restraining order.

Last year, the BBC reported how the girl had been shopping with her older sister when she was attacked.

She started to run but the dog grabbed her hand. After the animal was grabbed and let go of her arm, it went for her shoulder and bit her.

Another 20-year-old man was chased across a garage forecourt before the dog attacked him. He had bite wounds to his forearm and cuts and bruises from being dragged.

A second man injured by the dog also went to hospital for treatment.

A witness, who stepped in to help, described how he attempted to free the girl from the dog's grasp, eventually succeeding.

The girl was left with scarring to her arm and shoulder.