Calgary fatal dog attack case returns to court Thursday

It’s been roughly a year-and-a-half since a senior was killed by a dog in Calgary’s northwest, and now the court case involving the dog’s owners will resume.

The case has been plagued with delays, leaving very little closure for the family of a senior who was killed by a dog while she was gardening.

Betty Ann Williams died after her neighbours’ three large Staffordshire Terriers got loose, before one of them mauled the 86-year-old woman.

The dogs that escaped have been in the custody of animal services since the deadly attack on June 5, 2022, in the northwest neighbourhood of Capitol Hill.

Police have previously said they never received reports about these particular dogs before the incident, and there was no evidence of what officers would consider “malicious intent.”

Denis Bagaric and Taylin Calkins are facing 12 charges under the city’s responsible pet ownership bylaw.

The pair will be in court Thursday, after their lawyer backed out of defending the couple in September for unknown reasons.

Barbara Walmer, a dog behaviour expert, says this case has been a perfect reminder of why proper training is so important.

“We need to make sure that we’re equipping owners with information to be able to handle our dogs in such a way that we’re decreasing the chance of aggression and increasing the safety of our neighbourhoods,” she said.

Walmer adds this case also shows how unpredicitable animals can get.

“All dogs can bite. Of course, there’s different factors at play as to how devastating that situation could be,” she said.

Williams had lived in the neighbourhood where she was killed for more than 50 years.

People who live nearby where in shock with what happened.

“This is a nice community, so when you hear something like this it just breaks my heart,” a resident previously told CityNews.

This isn’t something most people think about happening to them, the dog behaviour expert adds.

“We don’t really think about how something like that could happen, that’s just not something that’s really even on our radar,” Walmer said.

Some fruit trees have been planted near the Capitol Hill Community Garden, and a memorial bench has been in the works to honour Williams.

Attack sparked further conversation on EMS wait times

The death of Williams ignited further conversation over wait times for ambulances in Alberta, after it was learned the incident was coded as “non-life threatening,” leaving the elderly woman waiting for 30 minutes.

An independent review conducted by the Health Quality Council of Alberta (HQCA) concluded in January 2023, determined the wait time would have been cut in half had the call been properly coded as life-threatening.

The HQCA said at the time the consolidation of the province’s emergency dispatch systems didn’t slow the response.