A woman screamed racist abuse at a shop worker then set her dog on him after she was accused of stealing sweets.
Sonya Wadsworth, 41, repeatedly called Varun Ditta a ‘P**i’ then got her dog Tyson, a Staffordshire bull terrier, to bite him, Manchester Magistrates’ Court heard.She laughed as the attack continued, saying: ‘Haha you can’t do anything to me. My dog will bite you, p**i. Go home.’
She then turned on his colleague Max Wahid at Around A Pound Plus in Wythenshawe, Manchester, shouting at him ‘what are you doing here? Go back to your own country.’Wadsworth insisted the dog was acting in self-defence and protecting her but Mr Ditta said he believed Tyson had been trained to attack. Tyson has since died.
‘This was a dangerous dog and it was making me and Max feel that it was about to attack. Sonya was laughing and encouraging the dog to bite me.INTERESTING FACT ABOUT YOUR PET: Having a dog in the house means more bacteria enters the home and gets inside the occupants (one study found “dog-related biodiversity” is especially high on pillowcases.) In turn, people with dogs seem to get ill less frequently and less severely than people with no pets.
Gran's home invaded by thousands of millipedes‘I think the dog was trained and letting it go and then pulling it back by the lead then letting it go again meant “go and bite him”.’
Wadsworth denied any wrongdoing and insists that Tyson was ‘just scared at seeing his mummy assaulted’.She claimed that she was shoved out of the shop by the staff after being caught putting sweets in her pockets.
She said: ‘I got my dog from outside and it was getting increasingly defensive. I mean, he’s just seen his mummy assaulted but Max picked up a washing basket and raised it above his head and they booted my dog hard twice.
‘I didn’t use racist language at all. I never would and I did not tell my dog to attack on command. The dog was using self defence. I’m a diplomatic person. Very politically correct. Very polite. Very intelligent. They are all liars.
INTERESTING FACT ABOUT YOUR PET: While other pets have positive effects on your health as well, dogs have the added benefit of needing to be walked and played with numerous times a day. This means most dog owners get the recommended minimum 30 minutes of exercise a day, lowering their risk of cardiovascular disease and keeping them in better overall shape.
Widow gets first tattoo aged 94 showing her husband and late son's initials‘I was forced into this situation. I did not use my dog as a weapon – my dog was just scared at seeing his mummy assaulted.’
Wadsworth will be sentenced for racially aggravated common assault, racially aggravated harassment and having a dog dangerously out of control.