Bradford dog owner sentenced after toddler left with fractured skull

The child was attacked by a large Akita in Bradford

A toddler was attacked by a guard dog which grabbed her head in its mouth, fracturing her skull, a court heard.

The Akita, called Bolt, was chained to an abandoned car in a yard at a house on Leeds Road, Bradford, when the girl wandered in and was assaulted in 2019.

Its owner Shafiq Azam, 43, was given a suspended jail sentence for being in charge of a dog that was dangerously out of control in a private place.

He pleaded guilty to the charge at Bradford Crown Court.

He was sentenced to 12 months, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 180 hours of unpaid work for the community.

The court heard the child had entered the yard through a broken gate when the attack took place on 26 February 2019.

Prosecutor Paul Canfield said the Akita had previously bitten Azam's mother but he had not installed any fencing or a gate to prevent people or children approaching the animal.

Dog destroyed

He told the court witnesses described hearing barking and then screaming and seeing the child's head or neck in the dog's mouth.

In a statement read to court, the child's mother said she feared for her daughter's life and was now frightened of animals.

Mr Canfield said the defendant and others had come out of the house and hit the dog to get it to release the child - who had skull fractures and was bleeding.

The dog - which Azam told police was mainly used as a guard dog - was taken away and destroyed.

Owner Shafiq Azam was given a suspended jail sentence for being in charge of a dog that was dangerously out of control

He was arrested on a warrant after failing to turn up at court for a hearing last month and has spent more than a month remanded in custody at HMP Leeds.

Barrister Joanne Shepherd, for Azam, said his wife had died from cancer last year and his mother now needed 24-hour care after suffering a stroke.

Judge Jonathan Rose said Azam knew the dog had an aggressive temperament and it was obvious that the public would require protection from the Akita.