No Jail For Man's Attack Over Park Puppy

[SwaY]

http://www.news.com.au/national/no-jail-fo...r-1225862703460

No jail for man's attack over park puppy

The women's puppy gobbled up the bread Black had intended to use to feed ducks. Source: HWT Image Library

AN ENRAGED man bashed two women with a car steering wheel lock after their puppy chased ducks and ate his family's bread at a park.

Shane Black, 50, of Chadstone in Melbourne, avoided jail over the attack in which he hit one woman over the head and another in the knee with the lock, then stood over them and threatened to kill them in front of other families and children, the Moorabbin Kingston Leader reports.

But Black told Moorabbin Magistrates’ Court on Friday that he and his wife “were the victims” and had acted in self-defence, despite him walking to his car to get the lock before carrying out the attack.

Prosecutor Stephen McGinness said a verbal dispute erupted at Hedgeley Dene Gardens in Malvern East when a puppy started eating bread Black’s family was feeding to the birds on August 2 last year.

Black went to his car to get the steering wheel lock, returned and hit one victim behind her left knee, Sen Const McGinness said.

“As (the other victim) approached the defendant to intervene, (he) raised the club lock and struck (her) on the back of the head with the club lock, causing a laceration,” he said.

“The defendant stood over the victims as they were sitting on the ground and made threats to kill if they attempted to leave.”

Black pleaded guilty to two counts of intentionally causing serious injury and two counts of unlawful assault with a weapon, according to the Leader.

Defence lawyer Megan Casey said her client had gone to his car to get a mobile phone to call police and only became violent when he saw his wife being assaulted.

Black was convicted and received a suspended two-month jail term. Magistrate Paul Smith said he was of good character and had committed no other crimes.

[SwaY]

I don't' get how the heading has come about.

Sure there was a puppy there, it ate the ducks bread that the attacker had fed to the ducks. That's it!

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Imagine being this man's wife .... I'm sure this isn't the first time he's gone psycho, he's a menace and I cannot believe he was let off. Thuggery is thuggery, even if the innocent puppy ate the bread. Glad he didn't attack the puppy, about the only positive in this sad story of another very angry person.

[iffykharma]

Imagine being this man's wife .... I'm sure this isn't the first time he's gone psycho, he's a menace and I cannot believe he was let off. Thuggery is thuggery, even if the innocent puppy ate the bread. Glad he didn't attack the puppy, about the only positive in this sad story of another very angry person.

True, he should have been more appropriately punished - there's no excuse for it. But what about this bit?

Defence lawyer Megan Casey said her client had gone to his car to get a mobile phone to call police and only became violent when he saw his wife being assaulted.

WTF??? This seems to be a pretty important part of the chain of events and it only gets a passing mention at the end of the story??? Bloody newspapers.

[WreckitWhippet]

Keep your dog on a leash and under effective control. It helps to avoid the psycho's in this world.

[FranVT]

I wondered that too iffykharma, I know my ex would have been pretty p**sed off if he'd toddled off to the car to grab his phone and turned around to see me being assaulted, whether verbally or physically. Doesn't appear to be a large part of this story though. Also doesn't excuse what he did, those steering locks are really heavy that would have hurt so much! Imagine doing that over a puppy eating some bread if that's all it was... gosh

[Zhou Xuanyao]

WTF??? :p This seems to be a pretty important part of the chain of events and it only gets a passing mention at the end of the story??? Bloody newspapers.

Yep, just a small detail

[MolassesLass]

I can't believe he didn't get jail time - steering locks are huge and heavy, hitting someone in the head with one should be a major offence.

[casowner]

A man simply approaching women in an aggressive manner is generally enough to make them back off if they were attacking his wife, there was no need for him to use a weapon and after he hit the first lady was it really necessary to continue the attack on the second?

The puppy should have been under effective control and if it was this wouldn't have happened, not that his behaviour was justified at all but his family had the right to enjoy feeding the ducks too.

[Fit for a King]

he claims his wife was assaulted - it doesn't appear the other two women were charged so have to wonder whether it was all BS claims in court to justify his behaviour.....why would you need to call police over a puppy stealing bread????????

another angry man with poor impulse control....sigh....

[greytdog]

..... and bread is bad for ducks anyway....

[I love dribbly dogs]

Load of crap about the wife being assaulted... Why exactly did he leave his phone in the car? And why exactly was he getting it to call police? To tell them a puppy stole some bread? Get real.. he was going to the car to get the steering lock because he planned on hitting two people with it.

Gutless wonder had to hit with a weapon.. not even bare hands.

I hope someone hits him with a steering lock.

[I love dribbly dogs]

gremlins

Edited May 13, 2010 by I love dribbly dogs

[Snowball]

No excuse for such actions - scary stuff