An elderly man nearly died when he was ‘ripped to shreds’ by two Rottweilers while walking his own dog.
Vic Franklin, 78, had to have part of an arm and a leg amputated after being savaged by the animals, named Ziggy and Daisy, in an attack lasting 11 excruciating minutes last August.
If it was not for a brave neighbour in Bognor Regis who tried to beat the dogs away with a spirit level the retired security guard would have been killed, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.
Owners Matthew Roberts, 30, and Chloe Taylor, 27, pleaded guilty to being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control and causing injury.
The court heard the animals were often ‘bored’ and not given ‘enough to do’.
Neighbours told police they often spotted the pair, who lived outside in the garden, ‘roaming around’ and ‘showing their teeth’ at people walking by.
Mr Franklin was attacked on August 18 last year while out walking his Spaniel, named Peggy.
After being altered by his wife screaming ‘there’s a man being attacked by a dog’, James Jones ran outside to see Peggy ‘shaking’ while her owner was being mauled.
He later described seeing Ziggy ‘chewing something that looked like skin’ and said it was the most ‘unpleasant and unnerving site he has seen’, prosecutor Ellie Fargin said.
She went on: ‘The police attended and got there as fast as they could. They described seeing Mr Franklin in the floor with what they said was serious injuries.
‘[They said] it looked like he had been ripped to shreds. He was covered in blood and not moving.’
Both dogs have since been put down.
Mr Franklin was taken to hospital and his injuries were both ‘extensive and very severe’, resulting in him requiring emergency resuscitation.
‘The results of the combination of all these injuries and life-threatening condition is that he had to have amputations,’ the prosecutor said.
‘One to his left leg above the knee and one to his right arm below his elbow.’
In a victim impact statement, Mr Franklin said he was a healthy and active person until he was ‘brutally attacked’ by the two dogs.
‘That day my life was changed forever,’ he said. ‘I had to see the pain and anguish on the faces of my family when I was hospital when no-one knew whether I was going to live.
‘I am a dog lover, and I actually felt sad when I heard the dogs had been put down.
‘I do not believe that any dog that has been raised in a loving and caring environment would have done what they had done to me.’
Mr Franklin said before the attack he was caring for his sick wife – who now she has to care for him.
Roberts and Taylor will be sentenced on December 17.
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