The Tel Aviv Magistrate Court on Tuesday 24 Tammuz ruled that a male who was eight when attacked by amstaff dogs, would be compensated in the amount of 1.8 million shekels.

The attack took place 13 years ago, when the plaintiff was a young teenager. He came with family members to a community center near his home at the same time the defendant arrived with his two amstaff dogs. He released the dogs in the open field of the recreational center without a muzzle on their mouths as the law requires.

The dogs suddenly attacked the boy, injuring him in his face, neck, back and chest. He was hospitalized and underwent operations during a four-year period. He also required years of psychiatric care following the attack.

The defendant argued in the court of a provocation that reduces the punishment, since the child was provoked by the amstaff dog, but the judge rejected his claim outright and ruled that there was no provocation on the part of the plaintiff child but only a two-year-old girl with whom she intervened in self-defense.

The significant monetary compensation was decided, even though during the attack the defendant tried to free the child from the jaws of his dog – a fact with which the judge agreed.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)