By Cam Lucadou-Wells
A public housing tenant remains at his Doveton home despite being recently convicted of a sickening attack on his next-door neighbour’s dog.
Alan Erskine, 54, pleaded guilty to slashing the family dog Mia in her backyard while her owners were out last July.
He had sliced the mild-mannered Staffordshire-Mastiff cross three times to the face and left eyeball, causing a stream of profuse bleeding.
Many of her facial scars have healed but her eye is permanently damaged.
Erskine was sentenced to a community corrections order at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on 31 January.
He was ordered to compensate Mia’s owners for more than $3600 in vet bills to treat her wounds – in $50 fortnightly instalments.
Erskine had argued he had been long frustrated by Mia’s barking. He had forwarded audio recordings of the noise to Casey Council several times, calling it to act.
He rejected the council’s advice to fill out a ‘barking diary’.
However Mia’s owners remain traumatised by the attacker’s close presence.
Gino Nayna said he didn’t feel safe leaving his wife Katherine and their toddler at home by themselves.
Neighbours were set to petition the Department of Health and Human Services to evict Erskine, he said.
Otherwise he and his wife, with a toddler in tow, would sell up and move out from the home they bought in the quiet Doveton court less than a year ago.
“You can stab a dog and just get community service. He’s come into my yard with a knife in his hand,” Mr Nayna said.
“How is he still here?”
The family remains out of pocket while they await Erskine to repay their vet expenses over the next 36 months.
It’s an unjust situation, says Mr Nayna – an X Factor top-six contestant whose singing career was curtailed when his jaw was broken in a king hit at a McDonald’s outlet in St Kilda five years ago.
The culprit has yet to be brought to justice.
He is set to apply for an intervention order against Erskine, who has made intervention orders against Mr Nayna and another neighbour.
Other residents have also told Star News of their ongoing fears, claiming Erskine had reacted angrily to dogs and children playing in the street.
A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said it must abide by the Residential Tenancies Act before taking action, such as eviction, against a tenant.
“We understand the concerns raised by the neighbours and would encourage them to work with us to enable us to try and reach a resolution suitable for everyone.”
Erskine declined to comment for the story.
