This is Devon --A TORQUAY dog owner has appeared before magistrates after a 14-year-old girl was attacked by a pitbull (pictured) in a public park.
The teenager needed stitches for injuries to her arm and face after the incident at the play area behind Staddon Gardens in Watcombe on Friday evening.
The court was told she may need cosmetic surgery.
Dog owner Jenny Linden, 31, from Staddon Gardens has been bailed.
She pleaded guilty to being the owner of a dog dangerously out of control in a public place that caused injury to another person, obstructing a police officer and being the owner of a dog that is subject to a dog control order, and allowing it to be in a public place without being muzzled and kept on a lead.
She will appear at Exeter Crown Court for sentence on July 25.
Her dog, Gnasher, classed as a dangerous dog, is subject to a dog control order which saved it from being put down in 2010.
He is currently in the care of the police.
Prosecutor Simon Jarvis told the court the dog was seen coming out of the garden through a gap in the fence before approaching the teenager who was with a group of friends.
He said: "The girl was talking to her friends and saw the dog coming out of the long grass snarling and immediately grabbing her arm."
The girl managed to kick the dog off, but she fell over and it was then the dog bit her on the upper lip.
She needed seven stitches to her upper lip and has spoken to a hospital consultant about the possibility of plastic surgery.
Mr Jarvis told the court that when police arrived, Linden ran from police and was reluctant to give the exact location of the dog.
In interview she accepted it was her dog involved in the attack.
Defending, Alan Parsons said the dog was whining to go outside to go the toilet and was muzzled when he was let out.
He said: "During the course of his playing, the muzzle must have come off." Reported by This is 13 hours ago.