A garda was bitten in the face in an attack by a ‘vicious’ Belgian Malinois dog as he was searching for a suspected drug dealer, a court heard.
Garda Adam Caulfield, 27, of Primrose Grove, Darndale, Dublin, pleaded not guilty to two counts of breaching the Control of Dogs Act on dates in 2025.
He was convicted of one charge after a contested hearing before Judge John Hughes at Dublin District Court. Garda Gary Tuohy gave evidence that on June 28, 2025, he was part of a Coolock drug unit operation.
They had had several people under observation and saw two males engaged in a suspected drug transaction. One was apprehended. The second man fled along the walls to Snowdrop Walk, to the rear of the accused man’s home.
Garda Tuohy said he went to that address and stood outside the chest-high front gate, which had a ‘beware of the dog’ sign. He remained on the public footpath and spoke to the accused, who was in the front yard.
The court was told Caulfield was not suspected of being involved in the earlier operation. Judge Hughes heard his unmuzzled dog was extremely aggressive, barking at the officer. Caulfield held the dog but let go of it, and it jumped out of the gate and was able to bite a garda’s face, causing injuries.
He also suffered a broken finger as he tried to pull away from the animal. A second garda also witnessed it, and CCTV captured the moment when the dog lunged and bit his colleague.
An elderly woman testified that on April 22 last year, she went to the defendant’s residence to speak to his father about doing some work. She told the court that when the door opened, Caulfield was standing there with four dogs, and ‘the big one attacked me’.
She could not say what breed it was, but she remembered ‘it had a hold of me’, by the shoulders. She told the hearing there were two other dogs on either side of Caulfield. She said she fell and screamed for an ambulance.
In the hospital, she received stitches to her two arms, and also suffered injuries to her leg, and, as a result of slipping, was ‘bruised from head to toe’.
However, Caulfield was acquitted of that incident following arguments by defence barrister Greg Murphy that the incident occurred at the defendant’s home, where the dogs live.
The defence expressed apologies for both incidents and argued they should have been addressed in the Civil Courts to remedy the complaints.
However, the judge held he could convict for the dog attack on the garda and he took into account Caulfield’s ‘knowledge of the vicious propensity of his dog’.
He fined him €1,000 and imposed a two-month sentence with the final month suspended. Caulfield was released after lodging appeal bail.
A further hearing is scheduled for July 2 for the court to consider a prosecution request to grant a destruction order in relation to the dog.
