Rottweiler bite: Widow awarded RM143k over husband's death

A widow was awarded RM143,000 compensation in her negligence suit over the death of her husband after being bitten by a Rottweiler six years ago.

The Kuala Kubu Baharu Sessions Court on Jan 22 allowed the negligence suit by S Kaliammah against the security firm where she and S Silvaraj worked as security guards.

Quadrant Elite Force Sdn Bhd was ordered to pay her RM108,000 in dependency claim, RM30,000 for bereavement, and RM5,000 in funeral costs. The defendant filed an appeal to the High Court on Feb 1.

According to the written judgment made publicly available two days ago, Kaliammah, 46, and Silvaraj were on duty at separate guard posts at a private boarding school in Tanjung Malim, Perak, on the day of the accident on Sept 5, 2018.

In the plaintiff’s testimony, Silvaraj came by her guard post to use the toilet there around 12.30pm, and told her he was asked by the firm’s operation manager (defence witness 2 or DW2) to look after the male dog named Rocky.

She claimed her husband said DW2 asked him to temporarily bring Rocky out of his cage to urinate and take care of the dog for three hours before a trained dog handler (DW1) could come by. Silvaraj then returned to his guard post.

A short while later, Kaliammah said she heard via her walkie-talkie her husband shouting for help and telling a supervisor he was bitten by the Rottweiler.

After rushing to her husband’s guard post, she saw bite marks on the deceased’s left hand and Rocky inside a cage wrapped with an iron chain.

She said Silvaraj told her he was putting the iron chain around the cage when Rocky barked and bit his left hand.

DW1 and a few other individuals then sent Silvaraj for treatment at Tanjung Malim Health Clinic, where he was given an injection and four stitches in his left hand. He resumed work.

Death by septic shock

According to Kaliammah, his left hand became swollen and the 42-year-old had a high fever later that night.

Four days after the incident, he suffered shortness of breath and fainted, and Kaliammah rushed him to the same clinic, which then referred him to Slim River Hospital.

After emergency surgery, Silvaraj stayed in a coma and passed away on Sept 15, 2018. His death certificate stated the cause of death as “septic shock secondary to left upper limb infected wound due to dog bite”.

According to the written grounds of judgment dated Oct 8, Sessions Court judge Nurul Mardhiah Mohammed Redza said the firm was negligent for leaving Rocky alone with Silvaraj without surveillance from a trained dog handler.

She noted that DW1 testified that a Rottweiler is not dangerous to a dog handler but “reacts to strangers”.

She pointed out that the deceased was not a dog handler and he was a stranger to Rocky.

“Therefore, the act of leaving the dog alone with the deceased by the defendant without any surveillance from a trained dog handler is unacceptable.

“It is such an irresponsible arrangement by the DW2 to leave the dog unattended and rely on the deceased to look after the dog until DW1 came.

“I find that the incident of getting bitten by the dog is foreseeable by the defendant because the dog reacts to strangers.

“It was safer if the defendant had provided a certified dog handler to be present before the handing over of the dog was made,” Nurul said.

Consistent evidence

Touching on DW2’s testimony denying ever instructing Silvaraj to temporarily look after Rocky, Nurul said this oral evidence is contradicted by the testimony of the dog’s trainer/vendor, who was the third defence witness (D3).

The judge noted that D3 testified being asked by DW2 to teach the deceased how to handle the dog.

She said DW3 gave evidence of having brought the dog for a walk with Silvaraj and the trainer tried to hand the chain to the deceased on Sept 5.

Nurul added that DW3’s evidence is consistent with Kaliammah’s testimony of Silvaraj telling her that DW2 instructed the deceased to bring Rocky out to urinate and take care of the dog for three hours before DW1 could come by.

In its defence, Quadrant Elite Force denied liability, contending that Silvaraj’s own negligence by touching Rocky of his own accord resulted in the accident.

Law firm Nazrin Nasir T Anand & Co acted for the widow. The security company was represented by law firm Kingsley & Co.

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