A man died from extreme blood loss after suffering “catastrophic injuries” when he was bitten on the leg by an American XL bully in his daughter-in-law’s garden, a court has heard.
Keven Jones, 62, from Chester, who was in poor health, taking methadone and blood thinning medication, was staying at Chanel Fong’s house at the time of the incident.
The incident took place before XL Bullies were added to the banned dog list in October 2023.
Fong, 33, denies being the owner of the dog, which the prosecution said was dangerously out of control at the time, and also denies an alternative charge of being the person in charge of a dog at the time of the attack.
Opening the case at Caernarfon Crown Court, prosecutor Mark Connor said it was a “sad and tragic case for everyone concerned” and told the jury they would be shown some “graphic images” of Jones’ injuries during the trial.
He said it was not a case of whether the XL Bully, named Cookie, was a banned breed, but rather that the dog had been “dangerously out of control” and whether Fong was legally responsible for it, either as its owner or the person responsible for it at the time.
The court was told the dog was owned by Fong and her partner, Joshua Jones, the son of the victim, but that he was not present at the time of the attack.
Connor added that, in her police interview, Fong said on paper Cookie belonged to her partner.
He went on to describe how there were a number of dogs at the property on Holt Road in Wrexham, including Cookie and another XL Bully called Fire, who were in the back garden at the time.
Cookie’s mother, an XL Bully called Rogue, was inside the property and was “in season” meaning she had been kept separate from the other dogs in the house.