Vidya Emrith, the owner of two dogs which mauled five-year old Ezekiel Cambridge last year, was yesterday found guilty of failing to properly secure her animals. Magistrate Alicia Chanka, sitting in the San Fernando Magistrates' Court, ordered Emrith to pay the maximum fine of $200. She was charged with permitting her dogs to go at large without being muzzled on April 12, 2011. The charge was laid by Cpl Samaroo.
The court did not award compensation to the victim. "I am sure that compensation will be heard in another jurisdiction (High Court)," Chanka said. The Cambridge family has said they will pursue further legal action. Cambridge's grandmother, Yolande Peters-Renne, who was in court when the sentence was passed, was invited by the magistrate to make a statement.
Peters-Renne, who was walking with her grandson the day he was attacked near his home in Palmiste, said she does not want the dogs around. "I would not like to see the dogs back in the area. They ran up 20 houses, around two corners and 20 houses to meet us," she said.
On that evening, Peters-Renne was giving Cambridge his normal evening stroll, near his Chrissie Street, Block Five, Palmiste, home, when Emrith's dogs-a pure German Shepherd and an Akita mixed with German Shepherd-tore into him, ripping apart his abdomen and back. A neighbour came to their rescue and used a piece of iron to get the dogs away from the child.
Ezekiel was taken to hospital, where he spent several weeks and underwent several surgical procedures. Chanka said the dogs should have been muzzled, given the fact that they had already attacked two people. The magistrate expressed sympathy for Ezekiel's condition.
"I cannot say a speedy recovery, it will be a long road. He has been deprived of what a normal five-year-old would be able to do now," the magistrate said. Emrith apologised to the court and the family. Emrith's lawyer Azeem Mohammed assured that the dogs were not a threat. He said Emrith did not deny culpability, and had visited Ezekiel.
