Gay Auckland couple Thomas Owen and Brian Hill continue to make the headlines after being found guilty of failing to control their dog which bit a toddler's face in a Grey Lynn park. Following a Sunday Star Times article last weekend which revealed that Owen has been seen walking a similar dog in the same area, published letters to the editor of the paper have mostly criticised the pair. An aunt of the mauled toddler asks rhetorically, after saying the couple has showed no genuine remorse, “Since when do you not feel the need to respect and honour feelings of fear and anger in your neighbourhood?” Surely it would have been more appropriate, writes Simon Bergman, that the pair be seen with “a poodle or a chihuahua rather than a dog which looks practically identical to the one which mauled Carolina.” Peter Hansen criticises the “gutter” tabloid reporting of the event by the media, while Gwyther Thompson asks if Owen, who was bashed in prison while serving his sentence, has not been punished enough. Maxine Cross criticises the SST for printing such “bigoted and biased” news. C Reid speculates that “it would be terrifying” for the child “ to come across these men walking that dog in the streets or the reserve where she was attacked. A Galbraith complains that the gay pair refused to acknowledge their guilt and asks how they can now be considered to be responsible dog owners.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Sunday, 9th November 2003 - 12:00pm