A Montreal man has been charged after allegedly ordering his pit bull to attack his girlfriend after the couple had a dispute.
Investigators say the incident occurred on Sunday night at the couple’s apartment in the city’s Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood.
“She was crying. She asked me to call the police,” neighbour Raphael Cummings told CTV Montreal. “Her blouse (was) torn off…and the sleeve all in blood.”
Police say when they arrived on the scene, they found a 47-year-old woman suffering from dog bites. Her boyfriend, 54-year-old Mark Leonard allegedly used his dog as a weapon, ordering the animal to attack her, according to investigators.
Leonard had been charged with assault with a weapon. The victim has requested that the charges be dropped, but prosecutors refused, choosing to go forward with the trial.
Cummings’ wife, Joyce, said the pit bull in question has attacked both her and her husband, but that police were never called.
“He’s a bad dog,” she said.
“The dog is aggressive,” said another resident in the building, adding that the animal is often without a leash.
Police returned to the scene on Tuesday night to seize the dog, but the victim of the attack would not give up the animal, they said. Meanwhile, neighbours say they have not seen the pit bull since the night of the attack.
This latest incident comes after a string of attacks involving pit bulls across Canada that has left several municipalities, including Montreal, considering a ban on the notorious breed.
With a report from CTV Montreal’s Tarah Schwartz
