A 51-year-old French man is facing a trial for involuntary manslaughter following his pit bull’s attack on his partner, a 29-year-old woman who was six months pregnant. The trial began last Tuesday in Soissons, a city in northern France. The prosecution argues that the man allowed the young woman to walk the animal, named Curtis, alone in the forest, despite the fact that it posed a danger to her.
“I lost my wife, I lost my son”, declared the accused before the court, where he also denounced “numerous inconsistencies” in the investigation. According to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, the judge presiding over the case pointed out that the defendant had barely been seen with the dog.
During the trial, he was also accused of having illegally imported Curtis from the Netherlands and of lying about his breed. He presented him as a whippet and griffon cross, but a subsequent veterinary examination determined that he was an American pit bull terrier, whose acquisition is prohibited in France.
According to court documents, the defendant will also have to answer for having subjected the dog to a “
bite training“, a practice prohibited in the country, since, if not done correctly, it can cause the animal to lose its inhibition when biting. Likewise, the Prosecutor’s Office underlines the man’s recklessness in allowing his partner, who is 1.52 meters tall and weighs 56 kilos, to walk a dog of great physical power alone.
The defendant arrived at the scene before the police and, at first, attributed the attack to a pack of hunting dogs. However, the DNA analyses and the multiple bites found on the victim’s body, neck, and head matched those of the pitbull.
