A MAN who asked a victim's family to "keep it quiet" after his dangerous dog broke a child's arm has been jailed for 16 months.

At a sentencing hearing in Mold Crown Court, Steven Michael Price, Churchstoke, was given an immediate custodial sentence and banned from keeping dogs for 10 years after his German Shepherd attacked a young victim on two separate occasions last year.

He had previously admitted two offences of being in charge of a dog that was dangerously out of control when he appeared at Welshpool Magistrates Court on Tuesday, July 27.

On Thursday, August 19, the court was told how the victim was attacked by 31-year-old Price's dog on two separate occasions in November 2020.

During the first incident on November 11, the court heard how the young victim was attacked by the dog after it escaped from the defendant's family home, sustaining minor injuries. Following the incident Price had told the victim's family that the dog had not behaved that way before and assured them it was a "one-off".

However later that month, during the most serious incident at around 6.30pm on November 27, the dog was said to have run out of the front door after it was left open and bit the child again. After the initial bite the dog was said to have held onto the victim's left arm and shook him for 30 seconds, leading to a double fracture to his arm. The defendant then called the dog back, after which it let go and returned to the house.

The victim ran to their home and was taken to hospital where they required emergency surgery to reset the arm.

They needed to spend the night in the hospital and was left with permanent scarring and ongoing mental trauma from the incident, with a victim impact statement read out to the court detailing how the victim was afraid of strange dogs, and had sustained an anxiety attack when approached by another dog on a subsequent occasion.

A statement from the victim's father said that in the aftermath of the attack Price had approached them and asked them not to report the incident, asking them to tell the hospital that the victim had fallen off a bike.

During the police interview, the defendant told the police that it would have been "impossible" for his dog to have caused the injuries described.

The court was told that following the incidents the defendant had taken steps to prevent his dog from escaping and that he had contacted the victim's family to apologise. The court was also told how Price had been driving to Brecon with food for his dog every week, which was in police custody in the area having been seized from the defendant's home.

"The defendant is clearly aware that he's very much at risk of going into custody and the dog being destroyed," said Michael Gray, defending.

"This is their family pet who is dearly loved and they would want to see him returned to them if possible, but I accept that further work with the behaviourist seems to be something that would need to take place."

Sentencing, Her Honour Judge Nicola Jones said she felt she had no choice but to send Price to prison, telling the defendant that he had shown a "failure to act" after previous incidents.

"There are significant aggravating features. This is a repeat victim, and the age of the victim is significant," she said.

"The ongoing effect upon this child, who has a fear of strange dogs, and that others were present during the attack, who were children, and that you attempted to prevent reporting of the incident.

"I have taken into account your family situation, but I have to balance this against the suffering that child endured. In my judgement this offence is so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence is appropriate."

Price was sentenced to 16 months in prison, and disqualified from dog ownership for a period of 10 years.

The dog was ordered to be destroyed.