Racist woman who trained dog as a 'weapon' makes him bite Asian shopkeeper after she was caught shoplifting
A woman has been found guilty of training her dog as a "weapon" and making him bite an Asian shopkeeper after she was caught shoplifting in a department store.
The Manchester Magistrates' Court heard how 41-year-old Sonya Wadsworth of Wythenshawe, Manchester, let her Staffordshire bull terrier Tyson off his leash on purpose and encouraged him to attack Varun Ditta following an argument over the theft, according to Manchester Evening News.
As Tyson attacked Ditta, Wadsworth allegedly laughed and said, "Haha, you can't do anything to me. My dog will bite you, P***. Go Home." She was also accused of calling him a "P*** b******," manhandling his colleague Mansoor "Max" Wahid, and yelling, "What are you doing here? Go back to your own country."
The incident occurred at around 3 pm on August 28, when Ditta and Wahid were manning the Around A Pound Plus store in Wythenshawe. Ditta worked at the back of the shop and heard Wahid and Wadsworth arguing about the shoplifting.
He told the court that when he went to see what was happening, he heard the 41-year-old racially abusing his coworker. "She was being very aggressive and using abusive words and calling us 'P***s,'" he said.
"Max kept saying 'Stop this Sonya. I don’t need a fight with you. Just go home now' and came around from behind the counter but she grabbed him by the collar of his T-shirt and was pushing him around whilst she was at the doorway."
He said that she then unleashed Tyson, who was tied to a pole outside the shop, and that she was laughing and encouraging the dog to attack him. "She went and got her dog from outside the shop and let him go aggressive towards me and I took that as her saying to it 'go and attack'," he said.
"The dog bit me on the left thigh. I was wearing thick jeans and I still got a deep bite mark from it." He added, "The dog was always very aggressive."
"When customers came into the shop they mentioned the dog being aggressive outside. It would bark at customers as they came into the shop. Kids would come into our shop and the dog was very aggressive. If anything was to happen to our customers we would get into trouble."
Wadsworth said she had done nothing wrong and claimed Wahid was the aggressor. "Max grabbed me really strongly and shoved me out the door with quite a lot of force and he picked up a mop handle and started hitting me. I got my dog from outside and it was getting increasingly defensive," she said.
She also claimed Tyson was acting in "self-defense" and said, "My dog was just scared at seeing his mummy assaulted."
Wadsworth was convicted of racially aggravated common assault, racially aggravated harassment, and having a dog dangerously out of control. She will be sentenced later this month and was bailed pending the preparation of pre-sentence reports.