The mother of a 15-year-old boy savagely mauled by a dog condemned the justice system after the owner was spared jail – despite LAUGHING during the horrific attack.
Eddie Kiernan, 55, set his Staffordshire Bull Terrier on the terrified schoolboy and watched on laughing as it ripped into the boy’s legs in a prolonged attack.
Shocking CCTV appears to show shameless Kiernan slam the boy into a wall, before egging on the dog and laughing while the animal locks its jaws around the lad’s leg.
Kiernan pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm and having a dog dangerously out of control.
But the yob – who has previous convictions for setting a Rottweiler on two people and a policeman – was given a one-year jail term suspended for 18 months.
And Swindon Crown Court heard Kiernan no longer has the dog, so a destruction order could not be made.
The boy’s mum Joanne King, 45, said: “When I arrived there was not much of his trousers left and blood everywhere.
“At first I thought he had been stabbed. His injuries were horrific.
“These were tear marks rather than puncture wounds.
“Had he been a younger child the chances are he could have had a major artery severed and bled to death there and then.
“He has been scarred for life by this, and he couldn’t walk properly for a couple of months after.
“It’s not the dog’s fault. It is the owner. Justice definitely hasn’t been done.
“The police are doing their jobs but being let down as badly as the victims.”
The horrific mauling happened outside shops in Pinehurst, Swindon, Wilts., on February 7.
CCTV released by Wiltshire Police shows the boy struggling desperately to get away.
A court was told last month he had been egging the animal on, and the video shows him gesturing towards the dog and the boy.
The attack only ended when a friend used his bicycle to dislodge the dog, and the boy’s mum was called to collect her son while he hid in a neighbouring garden.
Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told the court: “The lad says the defendant egged him on saying ‘What’s this? Kysh, what’s this?”
Speaking after the hearing, Joanne, a mum-of-eight, added: “He has never given up where the dog is, so it is still roaming around out there.
“Dogs are domestic animals, but will attack like wild animals when commanded.
“Kiernan instructed that dog to attack. It only did what any faithful dog would do. Even my son said in police interview it’s not the dog’s fault. It is the owner.
“We were all expecting him to go to prison, and when the judge said ‘suspended’, I didn’t hear any more of the case. I was crying my eyes out.
Kiernan’s previous convictions include common assault and having a dangerous dog in 2006 when he tried to set his Rottweiler on a police officer.
He was banned from keeping dogs for 10 years, given a one-year jail term suspended for 18 months, ordered to pay £400 compensation and a six-month alcohol treatment requirement.
Joanne said the family doesn’t want his money and will be giving it to charity.
Rob Ross, defending, said his client had been suffering from trouble with local youths for some time after he was he victim of an assault.
