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Two people have been jailed following the death of ten-year-old Jack Lis, who was killed by a dangerous dog last year.
Jack, who attended Cwm Ifor Primary School, died on November 8 after being attacked at a friend’s house on Pentwyn, Penyrheol.
Jack was killed by an XL American Bully called Beast, which was shot dead by firearms officers after the attack.
However, the breed of dog is not banned by the Dangerous Dog Act, meaning it is legal to own in the UK.
Amy Salter, 29, of Llanfabon Drive, Trethomas, and Brandon Hayden, 19, of Pen y Bryn in Penyrheol, were sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday, June 10.
Hayden was sentenced to four and a half years at a young offender’s institution. He pleaded guilty to owning a dog dangerously out of control causing injury resulting in death.
Meanwhile, Salter was handed a three-year jail term. She pleaded guilty to being in control of a dog dangerously out of control causing injury resulting in death.
The pair were also banned from ever owning a dog again.
The court was told how the dog had behavioural issues. The court was also shown CCTV footage of the dog’s behaviour outside the top shop in Penyrheol, where it lunged at people, including children.
The dog was owned by Hayden, but Salter agreed for it to stay with her and gave Hayden a key so he could take the dog for walks numerous times each day.
Hayden got the dog through Facebook and said he was told the dog was good with people.
However, Salter told police she wouldn’t have let the dog stay with her if she had known it was dangerous.
On the day of his death, Jack went to Salter’s home with a friend, while Salter was at work and no adults were present. The dog was in the house, having been been dropped off there by Hayden following a walk earlier that day.
Jack stroked the dog on the head before it pushed him to the ground and attacked and killed him.
“My heart aches“
In a statement read to Cardiff Crown Court on his behalf, Jack’s father John said: “How can I find the words to describe the impact that my son Jack’s tragic unnecessary death have had on mine and my family’s life? There isn’t any.
“Losing a child is heart-breaking to say the least, but to lose a child in such an horrific, unimaginable way is not something that anyone would ever be able to come to terms with or accept.
“The circumstances and the thought of how my son Jack must have been feeling at that time, all alone, in pain and frightened to death haunts me every day and night. I cannot close my eyes at night and think of anything else.
“Jack was ten-years-old and had his whole life ahead of him, but this was taken from him so unnecessarily, and so tragically.
“I’ll never get to see him turn into a young man, learn to drive, get married or have children of his own – his brothers and sisters are so young they won’t remember him.”
Speaking outside the court after Hayden and Salter were sentenced, Jack’s mother Emma Whitfield said: “I’m without my son. I’m without his smiles, his stories, his presents. Nothing will ever make up for what this has done to my family.”
She added: “Jack laughed, he played, he told jokes. He deserved to live more of a life than this.
“I could stand here all day and tell you what Jack meant to us, and still means to us.
“We will never stop grieving Jack or loving him. Our love will continue to stay strong.
“So much has been taken from us. Now we must live with our life sentence without such a beautiful boy.”
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