THUNDER BAY -- Dante Mekanak was racing his friend across Tarbutt Park when he jumped into the boarded rink area and was viciously bit in the face by a dog.
The 13-year-old took the stand Wednesday morning at the Thunder Bay Courthouse in the trial against Frank Vantroba, 59, who faces a charge of criminal negligence causing bodily harm after his Old English bulldog allegedly jumped up and bit Dante, resulting in the boy receiving 65 stitches, on Nov. 17, 2012.
It is alleged Vantroba left the scene without offering assistance to the boy.
Dante testified that he jumped over the boards into the rink area while his friend raced around the boards; it wasn’t until he was inside the rink area that he noticed a man standing in the middle and then two puppies just a few feet away from him.
He kept running across the rink and at one point looked to his right and saw a large dog running towards him.
The dog then jumped up at him.
“I just stared at him and he bit me,” said Dante.
He said the dog bit him once on the face and then he froze.
“I didn’t know what to do,” he told the court.
He next remembers the man coming over, leashing the dog and saying “You can’t just jump over the boards like that.”
Dante said he apologized but didn’t know why he was saying sorry. During cross-examination, Dante said he felt bad for the man and his dog because the man looked startled.
Dante realized he was hurt because he saw blood dripping down from his sleeve and kept his sleeve covering his face. He then started walking home with his friend.
He said he felt dizzy and sleepy on the brief walk home. During that walk, he ran into Ronald Frost, who testified on Tuesday that he called 911 when he heard what happened and saw Dante’s injuries.
After Dante’s testimony, the Crown closed its case.
The defence called Vantroba to testify.
Through a Slovakian translator, Vantroba told the court he has owned more than 10 dogs throughout his life and has extensive experience training them.
He had owned the dog in question, Big Brown, for about a year prior to the incident in Tarbutt Park and the animal had no history of aggression with people or other animals.
He described Big Brown as weighing around 100 pounds and being about 90 centimetres tall.
Vantroba said he took the four dogs to the park that day to train them as he usually did; there was Big Brown, an adult female and two puppies.
He was concentrating on the puppies when he heard Big Brown galloping; he saw a boy running from one side of the rink to the other and yelled ‘stop!’
The command was for the dog, but both the dog and the boy stopped, said Vantroba.
The dog stopped abruptly and ended up sitting on his hind legs. He saw Big Brown jump up and down once.
“I was not expecting anything like this and I did not want any contact between the two of them,” Vantroba said.
He ran over to leash Big Brown and asked Dante why he had jumped in the boards and Vantroba said he wanted to see if the boy was alright.
He testified Dante had the lower part of his face covered with one or both of his hands and he noticed a scratch above one of his eyes, but he saw no blood.
He waited until the boys left the park before heading home, saying he felt uncomfortable with the situation because nothing like that had ever happened before.
Vantroba said it wasn’t until the next day when questioned by animal services that he knew the extent of Dante’s injuries.
He also testified he had asked the police if he could see Dante and his family but was told that wasn’t possible because it was a criminal investigation.
The Crown is expected to cross-examine Vantroba Thursday morning.
