A man whose guard dogs savaged a deliveryman to death in a horrific attack has been jailed for nine months and ordered to pay EUR 2.7 million compensation to the victim’s family.
Agatino Zuccaro, 55, was delivering a package to a guest at the Tenuta Walter hotel, on the outskirts of the comune of Portopalo di Capo Passero, in the southern Italian province of Syracuse, on the island of Sicily, in January 2018.
But as he walked through the compound, three brutal Corsican Dogs escaped from an enclosure and bit him to death.
The Court of Syracuse has now sentenced the owner of the three dogs to nine months in jail and ordered him to pay EUR 2,768,000 in compensation to the victim’s family, including his wife, three children, and his seven brothers.
The accused, who has not been named but who was represented by lawyer Giuseppe Gurrieri, was found guilty of manslaughter for leaving his dogs unattended.
Giorgio Forestieri, the lawyer for the Zuccaro family, said: “Zuccaro was trying to deliver a parcel inside the facility, as he had done many other times, to a recipient whose accommodation was located near a makeshift dog fence. However, the closure of the fence door was malfunctioning, so much so that the dogs had already escaped the day before during New Year’s Eve.”
The lawyer added: “The sentence finally denies the false information disseminated by the press, about the death of the courier from a heart disease, rather than from the wounds caused by the three dogs that attacked him […].”
It was first thought that the victim might have died of a heart attack at the site of the dogs but an autopsy on the corpse quickly revealed that the victim had in fact suffered numerous wounds to his legs and arms which were compatible with dog bites and which proved fatal.
The Corsican Dog is a breed of dog that originated in Corsica and has existed on the island since the 16th century.
They are typically used by hunters and farmers and also as guard dogs thanks to their terrifying appearance.
It is unclear if the ruling is final.
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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