A WOMAN whose Rottweiler dogs savaged a seven-year-old boy has been fined a total of €1,000.
Jordan Denn was playing on the green at his estate in Edenderry, Co Offaly, last summer when he was attacked by the dogs which escaped from the back garden in which they were corralled.
He sustained injuries to his head, chest, arms and legs.
At the time, Jordan's mother said: "He was in real bad shock, shivering all over - and he went a real scary grey colour when he was brought into hospital.
"It took him over 12 hours to regain his colour."
At Edenderry District Court yesterday, Nuala Beglan, who lived at The Sycamores, Edenderry, at the time of the incident faced four charges in relation to each of the dogs, named "Assassin" and "Tanner."
A tearful Ms Beglan was flanked by her mother as Garda Eoin Maher gave evidence of how the dogs partially knocked a side gate before bounding on to the green where the boy was playing.
Lee Coyle, partner of the boy's mother, heard him screaming.
He shouted and kicked at the dogs and took the child to safety.
Insp Joe Prendergast said the incident had been "hugely traumatic" for the boy and his family.
Both he and Judge John Lindsay, who viewed pictures of the boy's injuries, said Jordan was lucky to be alive.
The inspector said that it was Mr Coyle's "quick action" which saved the child's life.
Ms Beglan's solicitor Donal Farrelly told the court that Ms Beglan, who no longer lives in Edenderry, had gone to visit her sick father in Mullingar Hospital.
Unexpectedly she decided to stay the night and thought that the dogs were safe.
There had been no previous complaints about them.
He said Ms Beglan had been "personally traumatised" when she returned home to discover what had happened.
Mr Farrelly said that she had immediately accepted that the dogs, which she owned and cared for for 18 months, would have to be put down.
He said his client wanted to express her "absolute regret" at what had happened.
She said she would never again have dogs.
Ms Beglan has not yet been notified if there is to be a civil claim.
Ms Beglan, who was 19 at the time of the attack and is now pregnant, was fined €500 for not having a licence for each dog.
The maximum penalty for the offence is €1,000 and/or three months imprisonment.