IT was at a time when street crimes were at worrying levels but to face the threat of lurking killer canines was another matter altogether.
Although rare, a number of cases of ferocious dog attacks that brought grievous injury to victims had been reported over the years but two of the worst cases come to mind.
On May 8, 2012, in Subang Jaya, Selangor, Yip Sun Wah, who had turned 74 less than two weeks earlier, was savagely killed after being attacked by a neighbour’s guard dog just a kilometre from his house in SS19.
Yip had lived in the township for two decades and was on his regular jogging routine at about 10am on that fateful day when a dog called Beacon, a cross breed between a miniature bull terrier and an American Staffordshire terrier, pounced on him out of nowhere.
As the elderly man was being mauled and he struggled to break free, two residents in the area went to his aid and tried to get the dog off him.
The canine, that had sunk its teeth into the victim’s neck, did not budge despite taking beatings from the residents. The attack lasted for about five minutes and the dog only freed its deadly grip on finding Yip motionless.
As the jogger, who was well-liked by neighbours lay wounded, the killer beast with blood dripping from its mouth ran back to its owner’s house nearby.
Another neighbour, a doctor, tried to render medical aid to the victim but it was too late.
Yip, who suffered a torn ear and serious bites to his neck, was dead.
Police later learned that the dog’s owner, 28-year-old Elaine Soon Sien Ling, had acquired Beacon just three months earlier to guard her home after it was burgled.
Although she had kept the dog within the compound of her house, it managed to slip through a small door of a rubbish bin compartment.
The following month, Soon was charged with negligence for exposing danger to the public with an animal under Section 289 of the Penal Code where one is liable to up to six months’ imprisonment.
She was fined RM2,000 and escaped a jail sentence after the magistrate’s court took into consideration that she had sincerely sought forgiveness from Yip’s family, who later retracted their police report against her.
Days later, the court ordered the killer dog to be put to sleep.
In a separate case, 16 months before Yip’s death, two guard dogs killed an Irish tourist at an orchard at Teluk Bahang, Penang on Jan 10, 2011.
Maurice Sullivan, 50, had visited the organic farm and was taking photos of the place when he was mauled by the canines and suffered grave injuries.
The deaths of Yip and Sullivan also brought ghastly memories of a similar case which was widely reported in 1994 where a 70-year-old grandmother who was taking a morning stroll in Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur was attacked by a three-year-old Rottweiler called Leroq.
On Sept 21 that year, Neoh Kim Lean, whose scalp and ears were torn off by the canine, died minutes before she arrived at a hospital for treatment.
Leroq’s owner was charged in court and was fined for negligence.
Months later, the dog was ordered to be euthanised after attempts to rehabilitate it by the police canine unit failed.
The case was reported to be the first fatal dog attack in the country.
