A teenager has admitted being in charge of an XL Bully that was shot dead by armed police after it attacked a man and his dog. Tya Miller, 19, was responsible for Kilo when he savaged Norman Beaton and his 14-year old Border Collie, Drift, during a horror incident in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire.
A horrified witness raced to help Beaton and Drift and managed to free Drift by prising open Kilo’s jaw. Police desperately tried to restrain Kilo before armed officers were called in to deal with the situation in February.
It later emerged Kilo had been rehomed to Scotland to escape a ban on the breed that had come into force in England. An advert claimed the dog was ‘incredibly’ strong and ‘one of the strongest’ XL Bullies the seller had ever seen.
The post added he was ‘young, strong and filled with testosterone’ and would ‘knock you off your feet if you are not careful’.
Miller, of East Kilbride, appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court and admitted being in charge of Kilo at the time of the incident. She accepted he had repeatedly bitten Drift on the body to his injury and that Beaton had been repeatedly bitten to his severe injury.
The court heard Miller had been looking after Kilo for a friend. Prosecutors are expected to give full details of the incident at the next hearing.
Matthew Super, defending, said: “This dog was shot and killed by police on this day. It was not her dog but she had been looking after it for a friend when this happened.”
Sheriff Colin Pettigrew deferred sentence on Miller until next month for reports.
Following the attack, a man who freed Drift from Kilo’s attack told STV he believed owners were the problem and not dogs and blasted new laws on the breed as ‘disgusting’.
Legislation on XL Bully dogs came into force earlier this year and it is an offence to own one without having an exemption certificate. They must also be muzzled and on a lead in public while selling or exchanging them is banned.
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