Mother of boy, 10, mauled to death by XL Bully dog ‘Beast’ plans to fight owners’ sentences
‘No sentence will ever be enough,’ grieving mother of Jack Lis says. ‘It’s not even close to justice’
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Prison sentences given to a man and woman whose 7st American bulldog "Beast" mauled a boy to death "are not even close to justice", his mother has said.
Brandon Hayden, 19, and Amy Salter, 29, were in charge of the "muscular" canine when it attacked and killed 10 year old Jack Lis in South Wales last year.
Hayden has been jailed for four years and six months while Salter was given three years.
Emma Whitfield, Jack's mother, has condemned the jail terms, saying they are too lenient. She has started an online petition calling for a review.
Ms Whitfield said: "No sentence will ever be enough. But I do definitely think more could have been done.
"This is why I need to try and appeal. I hope the response to the petition can show how much support we have and how many people disagree with the sentences passed.
"I've spent days since the sentences were passed sifting through research and reading through guidelines.
"Deep down I'm not sure whether I will ever get the chance to appeal but I have to do everything in my power to try. If I don't I will feel as though I have failed Jack."
Jack suffered catastrophic injuries when the dog attacked him a while he played at a friend's house in Penyrheol, near Caerphilly on 8 November 2021.
The attack happened shortly before 4pm on when Jack and his friend were alone. A neighbour, who Jack’s friend asked for help, tried to stop the animal but was unable to do so.
The mauling was reported to the police at 3.55pm and paramedics arrived on the scene before 4pm but could not save his life. The animal was shot dead by police at the scene.
In his sentencing remarks last month, Judge Michael Fitton QC said Jack's death was "an utterly tragic and needless event, it should never have happened and need never have happened.”
“Every life this court learns about is itself precious and the value of every life is greater of course to those who knew and lived the individual,” he said/
“For any child to lose their life at the age of 10 is bad enough but the circumstances we have heard and read and the pain expressed in VPS (victim personal statement) in intense terms the unbearable impact and harm it has done to those who knew and loved Jack.”