Man ordered to pay $106K for pit bull attack on pregnant woman
The High Court has issued an award of $106,931.93 against Elmo Connor Jr in the matter of a Pit Bull attack that happened in Sea Cows Bay in 2019.
According to the facts of the case, the victim, who was pregnant at the time of the incident, returned home from work on December 17, 2019 and was attacked by four Pit Bull Terriers, owned by Connor.
The victim told police that she arrived at her apartment building just after 11:30 pm and was about to make her way up the stairs to her apartment that was on the third floor. Four pitbull dogs walked slowly up to her left side, and because she was scared and frightened at the sight of the dogs she froze, not knowing whether to continue to walk or to run.
The dogs then began to attack her, biting her about the body and she started crying for help and fell to the ground. When the dogs attacked, she tried to fend them off, but was unsuccessful and used her hands to cover her face, fearing that one of them might eventually get hold of it. One of the dogs eventually grabbed and injured her right ear.
The victim told police that she was just outside of the apartment where the defendant lives, and remembered seeing lights on in his apartment and hearing his daughter crying, but said no one came to her rescue. Despite the pain and burning from her injuries, she managed to get up and push her way to the balcony of another apartment, where another tenant later rescued her.
The victim told the court that she suffered extensive injury to her arms and legs, and was left with significant scarring. She also has permanent damage to the myelin sheath around the axons (nerves), particularly to her right leg and foot, which causes ongoing neuropathic pain.
Damages were claimed for pain, suffering, and loss of amenity — a sum in respect of the gratuitous care given by the victim’s aunt and her then fiancée. The dog attack victim also claimed for special damages and the ongoing cost of a drug prescribed for neuropathic pain, which she will have to take for the rest of her life.
In assessing the damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity, Justice Adrian Jack held that damages should be divided into two parts. He ruled that the first was for compensating the shock and horror of the attack, and then the two month period of recovery; and the second part, for the lifetime pain and scarring that the victim suffered.
The defendant did not respond to the summons and did not make an appearance in court to defend the matter when it was called, court documents showed.
The victim told police that she arrived at her apartment building just after 11:30 pm and was about to make her way up the stairs to her apartment that was on the third floor. Four pitbull dogs walked slowly up to her left side, and because she was scared and frightened at the sight of the dogs she froze, not knowing whether to continue to walk or to run.
The dogs then began to attack her, biting her about the body and she started crying for help and fell to the ground. When the dogs attacked, she tried to fend them off, but was unsuccessful and used her hands to cover her face, fearing that one of them might eventually get hold of it. One of the dogs eventually grabbed and injured her right ear.
The victim told police that she was just outside of the apartment where the defendant lives, and remembered seeing lights on in his apartment and hearing his daughter crying, but said no one came to her rescue. Despite the pain and burning from her injuries, she managed to get up and push her way to the balcony of another apartment, where another tenant later rescued her.
The victim told the court that she suffered extensive injury to her arms and legs, and was left with significant scarring. She also has permanent damage to the myelin sheath around the axons (nerves), particularly to her right leg and foot, which causes ongoing neuropathic pain.
Damages were claimed for pain, suffering, and loss of amenity — a sum in respect of the gratuitous care given by the victim’s aunt and her then fiancée. The dog attack victim also claimed for special damages and the ongoing cost of a drug prescribed for neuropathic pain, which she will have to take for the rest of her life.
In assessing the damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity, Justice Adrian Jack held that damages should be divided into two parts. He ruled that the first was for compensating the shock and horror of the attack, and then the two month period of recovery; and the second part, for the lifetime pain and scarring that the victim suffered.
The defendant did not respond to the summons and did not make an appearance in court to defend the matter when it was called, court documents showed.
