In the trial against a Munich dog owner, whose Dalmatian is said to have bitten off a piece of the ear of a four-year-old, the 58-year-old insisted that the injury must have come about in another way.

For the surgeon, there is a lot at stake: it is not the first time that the animal has attacked and seriously injured children. The penalty order on which the prosecution was based, against which the woman had appealed, provided for a suspended prison sentence.

The judge made it clear right at the beginning of the trial that the penalty would be higher in the event of a possible conviction for negligent bodily injury.

Dog owner was heavily intoxicated

Only a few weeks before the incident with the four-year-old in September 2021, the owner had already been sentenced to a fine for negligent bodily injury to two children.

In addition, at that time she already had the obligation to walk her dog only in an empty state. But a breath alcohol test with the dog owner resulted in the evening around two per thousand.

According to prosecutors, the mother of the child had just comforted her little son, who had fallen off the bike without major consequences, when the male man, who was led on a leash, jumped on the then four-year-old and bit off the upper half of his right ear through the hood of his sweater.

In court, the dog owner insisted that the dog had jumped – "but he did not touch the child". She explained the high alcohol level by repeated hand disinfection. The judge then began an extensive hearing of evidence. When the verdict falls, remained initially open.