Father jailed over lethal canine assault on child son

Ryan Young did not wake from drunken sleep as Lakeland-cross terrier attacked three-week-old for as much as 20 minutes

A father who drunkenly slept via a sustained, deadly assault by the household canine on his three-week-old son has been jailed for 21 months.

Reggie Young’s mom, Maria Blacklin, screamed when she got here residence to search out him barely alive, together with her accomplice, Ryan Young, and their Lakeland-cross, Tricky, asleep.

Newcastle crown court docket heard that the assault by the foot-tall canine might simply have been stopped, however the father didn’t get up and the mauling could have lasted as much as 20 minutes.

Young, a roofer, later instructed police he had drunk eight cans of lager, and a taxi driver got here ahead to say he had been requested to ship eight extra to Young’s Sunderland handle on the night in June 2015.

Blacklin’s grandmother had died that day and she or he had gone out to console her household, leaving Young to take care of Reggie, who was in a bouncer within the lounge.

The court docket heard that the canine was saved within the backyard and usually solely allowed within the kitchen, however there have been no issues over its temperament round kids; it was not a combating canine or utilized in vermin management.

Blacklin returned residence after 4am to what Judge Tim Gittens stated was a scene of “Gothic horror”, together with her new child on the ground in a pool of blood. Reggie was blue however nonetheless respiratory and paramedics have been referred to as however he couldn’t be saved.

Young later instructed police: “I would not say I was drunk, more tired.”

Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, stated: “The officers who arrived described the defendant as appearing drunk.”

He refused to offer a breath take a look at and the quantity he had drunk was not clear.

Inquiries prompt the newborn fell or was dragged from the bouncer and was mauled by the terrier, which had not had contact with the new child earlier than and will have been pushed to assault by Reggie’s “uncoordinated” actions.

Dodds stated: “Had the defendant not been asleep in drink, he would have been able to stop the attack.”

Young, who admitted being the proprietor of the canine that resulted within the loss of life whereas dangerously uncontrolled at a earlier listening to, cried all through the proceedings.

Caroline Goodwin QC, defending, stated: “He is totally devastated. Nothing he can do can flip again the clock and convey again his personal baby.

“It was all the more harrowing for the family when he carried his child’s coffin before the service. It has been a long two years, this is a life sentence for this man.”

Goodwin stated the canine, which was about two years previous, had no historical past of aggression however behaved “naturally and instinctively” on the evening.

Gittens stated: “Reggie was subjected to a most dreadful, torturous, confusing attack and he sustained horrific and painful injuries.”

The decide accepted that Young, a hard-working father, had since developed despair and post-traumatic stress dysfunction during which he repeatedly skilled the aftermath of the assault.

He stated: “I am satisfied that your lack of control of your animal was due to the influence of alcohol and your selfish decision to drink to excess after a hard day at work.”

Young was jailed for 21 months and banned from conserving a canine for seven years. No members of the family have been in court docket for the sentencing.