Attacked by dog whilst mistakenly cycling on private country lane

pphillips

twister_teddy said:

pphillips said:

The question that might be interesting to find out is what criminal offense/s the land owner will be charged with. It might be classed as an assault occasioning actual bodily harm or perhaps a dog related offence.

According to police, the charges will be Section 3 Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. We entered the private land unknowingly and with no malice intent so even trespassing charges will unlikely result in anything as far as I understand . 
In the recent statement to police the dog owner in question is trying to backtrack and trying to wriggle out that he never saw the attack taking place at all however there is substantial evidence (the wound, torn clothes, calls for medical assistance, prescribed medications etc) and not to mention the my wife who witnessed the whole assault from a meter away. Police know he's lying and have asked me to keep hold of all the evidence if needed in court. 
If it really comes to a stage that any of the above evidence is somehow unacceptable and challenged, can the dog's DNA be matched from clothes or wound, or is there anything else that prove the dog bite. I am not sure what evidence court will likely demand. 

Don't worry about the evidence as that's the responsibility of the police and the CPS.
The police won't be interested in the the trespass as it is clearly not a criminal matter.
Basically a section 3 DDA offence occurs when a dog is dangerously out of control. The offence is more serious if the dog injures a person. The offence can take place on private or public land.  It is strict liability offence and the best way to explain this is to think of a speeding offence, a person is guilty of an offence because they went over the speed limit and it does not matter that they never intended to speed. The owner is not guilty if you were inside or you were entering his home as a trespasser or if he believed that you were.

twister_teddy

Okay, best to involve an injury lawyer at this point or possibly after the court proceedings?
My intentions are not to make financial gains out of this tragedy but at the same time I dont want him to get away with some sort of menial fine as I've heard happens given our justice system.
This was clearly an unprovoked attack. 

pphillips

twister_teddy said:

Okay, best to involve an injury lawyer at this point or possibly after the court proceedings?
My intentions are not to make financial gains out of this tragedy but at the same time I dont want him to get away with some sort of menial fine as I've heard happens given our justice system.
This was clearly an unprovoked attack. 

Best to do it at this point as there will be a time limit involved. You might already have cover for your legal fees through an existing insurance policy or by being a member of a trade union.

elsien

twister_teddy said:

Okay, best to involve an injury lawyer at this point or possibly after the court proceedings?
My intentions are not to make financial gains out of this tragedy but at the same time I dont want him to get away with some sort of menial fine as I've heard happens given our justice system.
This was clearly an unprovoked attack. 

An acquaintance's dogs escaped from her house, attacked an on lead dog and accidentally bit the other owner who was trying to protect her dog. The dogs were subject to a control order and the owner got a 12 week suspended prison sentence and was clearly told that if her dogs were seen off-lead/un-muzzled from that point she would go to prison.
My personal opinion is that the judge was harsher in that case because of the breed of dog involved, but there is certainly the option of more than a "menial fine." She also had to pay compensation for the vets bills and for loss of earnings of the injured party.

twister_teddy

pphillips said:

Best to do it at this point as there will be a time limit involved. You might already have cover for your legal fees through an existing insurance policy or by being a member of a trade union.

I have an issue on this point. I contacted NWNF dog injury lawyers and they wouldn't raise a case until I have the details of other party including their name and address, dog insurance details etc. And police won't share the details of the other party for obvious reasons. Is there something I can do to get this moving. 

elsien

I'd suggest not getting your hopes too high on the compo front.
You've called it a tragedy, but although very unpleasant,  has it had any financial impact or potential long term impact on you because that's what any compensation would predominantly be for?
They want the insurance details because they'd be aiming to settle before getting to court but it is entirely possible that the dog isn't actually insured - not everyone bothers.  

pphillips

twister_teddy said:

pphillips said:

Best to do it at this point as there will be a time limit involved. You might already have cover for your legal fees through an existing insurance policy or by being a member of a trade union.

I have an issue on this point. I contacted NWNF dog injury lawyers and they wouldn't raise a case until I have the details of other party including their name and address, dog insurance details etc. And police won't share the details of the other party for obvious reasons. Is there something I can do to get this moving. 

By "for obvious reasons" do you mean that they want to try to stop you contacting the other party?
You need to find out what their process is for a victim seeking compensation, perhaps they just need to finish their investigation.

pphillips

elsien said:

You've called it a tragedy, but although very unpleasant,  has it had any financial impact or potential long term impact on you because that's what any compensation would predominantly be for?

You are correct in regards to cases of serious injury, in less serious cases the compensation will predominantly be for the pain and suffering caused by the injury.

twister_teddy

Gavin83 said:

What was the extent of the injury? Has it left permanent damage? Have you suffered any financial losses? When you say you sought medical assistance what do you mean by this (hospital I assume) and what did their assessment conclude? And try and answer this factually and keep the over emotive language to a minimum.

Most of your questions above I can answer with a "yes". Currently undergoing treatment and I don't think I want to discuss the details of the injury here however all I can say is that its not a minor injury. 

carefullycautious

Land registry will tell you who owns a property if you know the address. It is about £5 to request this information. Some one will correct me if I am wrong