28-05-2025
Dangerous Drumnadrochit dog's owner loses appeal against conviction
A woman who claimed her German Shepherd was a 'good-natured' pet after it bit a delivery driver has lost a bid to overturn her conviction.
Janet MacFarlane's canine, Diego, attacked the worker through a gap in the gate of her home in Drumnadrochit, on April 14 2023.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard how the man needed stitches after the incident. She was charged with having a dog dangerously out of control following proceedings in September 2024.
Sheriff Sara Matheson ordered Diego to be muzzled and kept on a lead and muzzled when in a public place – she also ordered MacFarlane to pay Diego's victim £600.
The conviction prompted MacFarlane's legal team to go to the Sheriff Appeal Court in Edinburgh, where they argued that the judge failed to follow the correct legal tests in her decision to convict MacFarlane.
The Sheriff Appeal Court heard that if Sheriff Matheson had followed the correct interpretation of the law, MacFarlane would have been acquitted.
But in a written judgement issued by the court on Wednesday, Sheriff Principal Aisha Anwar KC, rejected defence arguments and upheld the conviction.
Sheriff Principal Anwar, who sat with colleagues Appeal Sheriff Iain Fleming and Appeal Sheriff David Young KC, said their colleague had acted correctly.
She added: 'We shall… refuse the appeal.'
During proceedings, the delivery driver, who wasn't named in the judgement, told the court that when he arrived at the property the dog was initially called away by MacFarlane's husband.
He said he did not notice the dog returning as he passed the parcel over to MacFarlane – but it was at this point that he was bitten through a gap in the gate.
In evidence, the man recalled: 'I said to the lady: 'Your dog had just bitten me and she shrugged and walked away.''
The court heard that the entrance to MacFarlane's property featured three signs warning visitors about the four-legged residents, including one that said: 'Beware of the dog, it may bite, you have been warned.'
She said six-year-old Diego was a 'beautiful, good-natured dog' who had 'never bitten anybody'.
'He is a more laying on his back with his belly getting tickled kind of dog,' she added.
MacFarlane confirmed she had installed wire to block the gaps in the fence since the incident.
