Conviction for woman who ordered dog attack
Posted Jun 17, 2014 11:34 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A Sundre woman has been convicted of aggravated assault after ordering her two pit bulls to attack a woman who was staying with her.
Rita Phillip was also found guilty of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and will be sentenced later this month.
The dog attack happened in the summer of 2012 and left 28-year old Deanna Wolfe with life threatening dog bite injuries, some of which are expected to affect her health for the rest of her life.
Justice Jo’Anne Strekaf told the court she has no doubt that Phillip told the dog to attack and knew they would follow her instructions.
She said Phillip sat there for some time watching the attack.
After the ruling On Tuesday, Wolfe spoke to the media outside a Calgary courthouse.
“I feel really happy that there is one less potential killer off the streets, nobody else will get hurt,” said Wolfe.
“There is a big lesson about owning a pit bull and the right and wrong way to do it.”
During the trial, she testified Phillip became enraged because Wolfe wanted to return to Calgary after spending more than two weeks visiting Sundre.
Sentencing arguments will be heard in early September.
Wolfe has filed a $300,000 civil statement of claim against Phillip at Court of Queen’s Bench.
