The court also more than halved the damages due to the victim filed via a civil claim, to €50,000, though upheld the dog owner's culpability in the case.

The incident occurred in the village of Tammiku, Jõgeva County, when two dogs attacked a young woman, causing her severe head injuries.

The dogs' owner was a neighbor of the victim, while both the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) and local authorities were reportedly aware of the dogs' tendency to run free and act aggressively.

The owner, named as Monika Anton, had been spoken to on multiple occasions about the matter, but no serious precautions had been taken prior to the attack

Tthe second-tier Tartu Circuit Court's criminal chamber found, contrary to the county court, that Anton could not have foreseen that her dogs would attack a person on a neighboring property with such severity as to cause life-threatening injuries, and so unexpectedly and suddenly.

While the dogs in question had previously escaped the property, they had not done anything nearly as severe as this attack before, the court noted, and their attacks had been confined to chasing or attacking other pets.

While Anton should have recognized that her previous measures to contain the dogs were insufficient and that the dogs could potentially behave dangerously toward people, the court said, the county court had made significant errors in determining Anton's sentence.

The circuit court found that real prison time was not necessary to influence Anton's future actions, sentencing her in stead to six months' in suspended sentence, with no requirement to serve the time unless further violations occur. The suspended sentence comes with a probationary period of one year.

The county court had sentenced Anton to 10 months' imprisonment, with two months real jail time to be served immediately

The Tartu Circuit Court upheld the January 23 decision made by the first-tier Tartu County Court regarding that part which found Monika Anton responsible for causing serious bodily harm through negligence.

As well as modifying the prison sentence, the circuit court also reduced the amount of non-material damages Anton was ordered to pay in relation to the victim's civil claim more than halving it from over €100,000 in compensation for both material and non-material damage, to €50,000, in non-material damage.

The circuit court found the county court had made "fundamental errors" in determining the compensation sum, though the circuit court acknowledged that the victim had undoubtedly suffered severe trauma and was entitled to compensation significantly higher than precedent might suggest.

€50,000 was an appropriate amount of non-material compensation given the seriousness of the offense, the circumstances, culpability and the long-term, serious injuries inflicted, the circuit court found.

Anton was charged with causing severe injuries to another person due to inaction and negligence.

She kept two large dogs in the village of Tammiku, Põltsamaa Rural Municipality.

Since the property (pictured) was not fenced securely enough to prevent the dogs from absconding, they did indeed do so.

On November 12, 2022, the animals attacked a 26-year-old woman on a neighboring property, causing her life-threatening injuries.

The circuit court ruling has not yet entered into force.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!