Woman jailed after dog attack leaves victim with permanent scars

A 47-year-old Cardiff woman has been jailed after her Staffordshire Bull Terrier severely mauled a woman during an assault, leaving the victim with permanent scarring and psychological trauma. 📢

Tracie Harrison was sentenced to two years imprisonment at Newport Crown Court after pleading guilty to being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control and causing injury.

The attack occurred on May 3, 2023, when Harrison and another woman assaulted Michelle Pring on Heol Trelai in Caerau. During the assault, Harrison’s dog Fade attacked the victim, biting her legs and arm.

Harrowing footage filmed by a neighbour showed the victim screaming: “Please Trace, he’s chewing my legs, get him off me, somebody please help me.”

The court heard Harrison made “minimal efforts” to stop her dog from attacking Ms Pring. The victim suffered multiple puncture wounds requiring a skin graft and later developed sepsis after discharging herself from hospital.

In her victim statement, Ms Pring said: “This attack has totally turned my life upside down, it’s been more than a year since the attack but I still feel its impact every day… I still have scars and every day I see them it reminds me of the sheer pain and agony I was in.”

She added: “Every time I see a dog I am petrified and worry they will savage me again. If I had to go through something like this again, it would be game over and I will die.”

The court heard Harrison had a previous conviction from 2015 for the same offence of being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control and causing injury.

Judge Carl Harrison also disqualified the defendant from having custody of a dog for 15 years and approved a destruction order for Fade. 🧵