Joel Bapaga pleaded guilty to two charges of owning a dog which caused injury while dangerously out of control after a four-year-old boy was attacked by his Cane Corso
A man has pleaded guilty after paying £80 for a “fighting dog” which bit a four-year-old boy and left him needing an operation. Joel Bapaga, 49, was seen stumbling in the middle of the road when his Cane Corso, which was not on a lead, launched towards the boy and attacked him.
It also scratched the child’s dad when he tried to stop the attack, Birmingham Crown Court was told on April 3. Bapaga was arrested shortly afterwards and pleaded guilty to two charges of owning a dog which caused injury while dangerously out of control. The attack on the afternoon of July 13, 2023 when the four-year-old was playing with a ball in his front garden.
Annabel Hale, prosecuting, said: “The defendant walked past the house with a large black dog. The defendant appeared to be drunk and was not in control of the animal.
“The dog ran into the garden and attacked the little boy, biting him on the bottom, leg, hip and head. (His father) tried to stop the dog attacking his son and received scratches in the process of doing so.”
She told the court that prior to the incident CCTV footage showed Bapaga ‘staggering and falling into the middle of the road’ while the dog was ‘not on a lead’, BirminghamLive reports.
Ms Hale said: “Immediately after the attack the defendant was approached by police. He tried to tie the dog to the post of a pelican crossing. He appeared drunk. He said he bought the dog that morning for £80 from an unknown man. He disclosed ‘he’s been used for fighting before’.”
She confirmed the dog had scratching ‘consistent with a history of dog fighting’, adding it was later destroyed after Bapaga ‘disclaimed’ it.
The injured boy needed an operation and stitches in hospital. Ms Hale said he was now ‘doing well’ but was left scarred and fearful of dogs.
Cathlyn Orchard, defending, told the court Bapaga suffered a brain injury in 2021 after being ‘severely beaten’, which left him with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and high anxiety. She said: “He is fearful of being attacked which was the reason for getting the dog in the first place.”
Psychiatrists who assessed Bapaga disagreed over the extent to which his ‘cognitive impairment’ impacted his ability to understand the risks of owning such a dog, the court heard. The issue was said to be central to determining his legal culpability for the offences.
Bapaga, from Birmingham, is already receiving treatment at a mental health hospital and it was recommended he was sentenced to a hospital order as opposed to a jail sentence.
Judge Andrew Smith KC said he needed more time to reassess the psychological evidence. He adjourned sentencing until April 17.