Yesterday, the Sunday Times carried a story about a dog attack. A four-year-old girl was mauled by a Rottweiler in the upmarket Hyde Park shopping centre last Monday. But what was unique about this? The dog’s handler is a dog whisperer and also claims to be “Africa’s number one dog expert.”

Last week Monday, at around lunchtime, James Lech and his “rehabilitated” Rottweiler were at JB River’s restaurant in the Hyde Park shopping mall.

Sadie Kukkuk, 4, and her grandparents, Buster and Wendy Sefor, were seated at the table directly next to Lech for their lunch.

From the video it’s clear to see that Sadie was just being a normal little girl and having a good old run around the restaurant before her meal arrived.

What also seems clear from the video evidence is that the dog was hunting her, for want of better wording, before it launched its vicious attack.

The footage shows Sadie was nowhere near the dog and simply runs past it, while Lech is talking to someone, when it goes for her.

What’s great about video evidence is that it doesn’t lie, as long as it’s not grainy or anything like that. It also helps debunk what someone says after an incident.

Like this from Lech:

I saw the child running, coming around the right of my table, jumping over the dog while he was lying down and resting and accidentally stepping on it at the same time.

No James, it didn’t happen like that.

When told that the video footage showed otherwise, Lech responded: “I saw it with periphery vision because my head is tilted, correct.”

No James, no you didn’t.

Lech has claimed that he is suffering from a medical condition that required he have the dog with him, and as such, the dog is a service dog.

His website even features a photograph of him with acclaimed US dog whisperer, Cesar Millan, and he thinks he is some kind of “shaman in the realm of dogs.”

Sadie’s mom has laid charges against Lech.

[Source: SundayTimes]