Dogs’ owner fined $6000 for deadly attack

A MAN has been ordered to pay more than $6000 in fines and fees after his two guard dogs fatally attacked a neighbour’s cat at Moolap.
Robert Lilley, 49, of Clifton St, Aberfeldie, pleaded guilty this week in Geelong Magistrates Court to various dog control offences relating to an incident involving his two German shepherd guard dogs.
City of Greater Geelong prosecutor Wayne Lugg said on January 26, 2012, the male and female dogs escaped Lilley’s commercial property at Essex St, Moolap, and entered another property.
“The female occupant observed both dogs holding her cat in their mouths and they appeared to be pulling at the cat.”
The cat died from injuries including an “extensive wound to its hind quarters” and skin, muscle and fat damage, Mr Lugg told the court.
Lilley’s defence lawyer said his client owned the dogs as part of a security plan following a 2010 break-in that cost him about $30,000 in insurance premiums.
Both German shepherds were registered on the City’s dangerous dogs list, his defence said.
Lilley was initially “at odds” to explain how the dogs had escaped but following an investigation came to believe a gate might have been left open, his defence said.