Just in case anyone is interested in the truth of this matter & not the hysteria relayed in the media:
It was proven in court at no time did either of the dogs attack or make any skin contact with the elderly woman.
Both dogs were accompanied by their owner, in their own front garden when the elderly couple walked past the end of the driveway at the top of the hill, one of the dogs barked, once & was reprimanded by the owner & both dogs immediately sat by the front door of the house.
The path at the end of the driveway was in a chronic state of disrepair & very uneven, the woman lost her footing & fell on to the road where she sustained her injuries, laceration to the head from impact on the road & a broken finger from putting her hand out when she fell.
The owner administered first aid until the ambulance arrived.
The legal technicalities of a dog attack in WA states that even a dog muzzled & on a leash that makes a person feel uncomfortable can be reported & seized whilst an investigation ensues.
In response to the comment about BYB: Let me assure you that these two dogs were most definitely not a result of BYB's, they were a mother & her pup from a very loving family. As far as them being unregistered: both dogs were in fact registered previously in the country town the owners came from, this had expired when they moved from the country, with moving to a new home & both starting new jobs, it was purely an oversight.
The owners are a young career driven couple that were unaware of the Koongamia area when they moved from the country.
The media have been contacted by the legal team representing the owners & were given the "legal" truth of the incident, three media outlets offered an apology but the retraction will never make front page of the West or the leading story on the nightly news.
Whilst I understand the previous comments are based on emotional responses to ill-informed media reports, please be aware that an elderly woman was very badly hurt & the owners have taken full responsibility for the fact that the mere presence of their dogs & one barking caused the woman's injuries & have not shirked their legal consequences.
Perhaps the lesson here is: although it is human nature to form an emotional reaction to a news story, we need to remember that the media have no responsibility to investigate the full facts prior to publication.
