Her defence is that its not a public place, therefore the ordinance she is charged under is inapplicable.

What was the verdict?

SCMP: Sally Andersen cleared over dog attack
Ada Lee
Updated on Jan 18, 2012
Sally Andersen, the founder of Hong Kong Dog Rescue, was acquitted on Wednesday morning over an incident in which a runner was surrounded by a pack of dogs and bitten.
The judge ruled there was no direct evidence that the dogs, which bit jogger Mitch MacDonald, belonged to Andersen.

She was accused of having dogs that were not leashed or under control, and biting someone in a public place, contrary to section 25 of the Rabies Ordinance.

MacDonald, a Lamma Island resident, told the Eastern Court earlier in the trial that he had been bitten twice when surrounded by 20 to 25 dogs while jogging in a quarry in Sok Ku Wan, in October 2010.

Six of the dogs were not muzzled, and the pack of dogs ran to Andersen when she yelled at them after the biting incident, the court heard.

Deputy Special Magistrate Stephen Yeung Shu-bun said prosecutor Neil Mitchell had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Andersen's dogs had bitten MacDonald.

Although he accepted MacDonald as an honest and reliable witness, he said MacDonald's recollection of the incident was vague.

“Significantly, [MacDonald] did not say whether the first dogs that left the area were among the first wave of dogs, or more specifically, the dogs that had bitten him,” the judge said.

“There is no clear evidence from [MacDonald] the dogs that had bitten him went to the defendant.”

Andersen said in a caution statement that she did not witness the biting, because she was too far away from MacDonald and was walking away from him when it happened.

Another key point in the case was whether the location of the incident was a public place. The judge ruled that the quarry was a public place when the incident happened, because members of the public could reach it easily and used it frequently

That's barking mad....

_________________
I'm lovin' it

_________________
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

From the HK Dog Rescue Facebook page, posted by Sally:

"For those who have been following my court case, I was acquitted this morning with costs awarded. I would like to thank everyone for their support over the past year and a bit, and for my legal team of Danny Marash, Chris Morley and Anita Chow, as well the the judge for his very fair and balanced handling of the case. Now it's over and life can resume to its normal chaos! Sally

Commenting on this post, some of HKDR's loyal Friends are attacking Mitch, the victim, now....

But it was Ag & Fish Dept. who was prosecuting her, not Mitch, he was just a witness for them. So AFCD, the Govt., actually the taxpayers, will have to pay for at least part of the costs of the high-powered team of three lawyers, the so called "Dream Team".

There seems to be a lot more to this case, behind the scenes, as it looks so obvious, clear-cut and ugly on the surface. Several mountainbikers and even birdwatchers have been attacked or severely threatened over the years inside the Quarry by Sally's pack of dogs, I know some of these Lammaites personally. I saw Mitch's severe, infected bite marks a few days after the incident.
I've never seen any dogs at all inside the Quarry myself, even though there are rumoured to be a few very shy, hardly ever seen feral dogs in there somewhere, definitely not a wild pack.

I've met Sally's pack of dogs myself (out-of-control, some of them unleashed and unmuzzled, but not aggressive at all in my own encounter, outside the Quarry). I might try to find out more from both parties, plus friends, especially why the court let her off without even a fine. Not enough proof?

And why was the AFCD prosecuting her? HKDR and AFCD have such a long and close relationship, I thought....<HR>
Interesting to note that the judge declared the Quarry as a public place where members of the public where free to go back then.

Not anymore, the YMCA has fenced in the area, locked the Luk Chau gate and put up no entry signs just a few days ago, according to the pictures of an early-morning-mountainbiking friend of mine.

You can still go in, around the fence, but you might still meet Sally's pack of large dogs in there.

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

Bloody awful verdict - no wonder we have a problem with dog poisoners if this the type of justice you can expect from the HK Courts.

As far as the courts are concerned it seems to be ok for this lady to continue posing a danger to the general public with her roving band of out of control hellhounds. She seems to get away with it every time and she often has the cheek to blame the victims.

Those who supported her in this case ( I am sure they will all thank her for naming them in her post !) should be ashamed of themselves.

Steve Vines was talking about the case this morning on Radio 3.

He's a supporter of Dog Rescue and took the line that there was no evidence the dog was one of Sally's, and it was completely out of order for her to have been charged because of all the good Dog Rescue has done. He also thought it was on Lantau, so he obviously has carefully reviewed the facts.

You can hear this at the archive:
mms://202.177.192.111/rthk/radio3/20120119/2012011910.asf
starting at 39:44

Also there was another SCMP story today, if anyone has it available could they paste it in.

if you have a good lawyer (in this case 3) you can get away with almost any crime. That's why jails are full of desperados on legal aid.

Pet rescuer cleared over attack by dogs on jogger

by Ada Lee - Jan 19, 2012

The founder of Hong Kong Dog Rescue yesterday walked free from Eastern Court after being accused over an attack by a pack of dogs on a jogger....

I don't have SCMP website access ($399), so if somebody could paste the full story, please.

No doubt that it's a most sympathetic story as the SCMP has been supporting her really great HKDR work for many years in many stories, same as ATV and TVB and almost all English media. Check out this friendly interview with her last year:

http://www.cairnsmedia.com/archives_feature_who-lives-who-dies-how-to-decide_03162011.html

Does somebody know where to find the judge's summary and verdict of the case, it should be online. It seems that the case is a lot more complicated than it looks like at 2nd or even 3rd glance and when knowing much of the background and people involved. The case has been going on since the attack in 2010 and has quite a lot of plot twists and turns.

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.