rottweiler bit a Government environmental health officer.

Susan Catherine Hill needed 16 stitches after the dog attacked her while she inspected the Pizza House Restaurant in Shelly Bay, Magistrates' Court heard.

Restaurant manager Franz Eganolf had denied being the keeper of a dog which caused injury to another person.

But yesterday the Wor. Charles-Etta Simmons fined him after finding the case proved.

She fined him a further $400 for owning an unlicensed dog. Eganolf had admitted the offence.

Eganolf's lawyer Mr. Charles Vaucrosson expressed surprise at the severity of the penalty, although he later told The Royal Gazette : "I have no instructions to appeal.'' At the outset yesterday, Mr. Vaucrosson and prosecutor Sgt. Earl Kirby ironed out a legal flaw in one of the allegations against Eganolf.

Mr. Vaucrosson had argued the prosecution had used the wrong legislation under which to charge his client over the dog bite.

He allowed the prosecution to make the necessary amendment.

For his part, Sgt. Kirby raised no objection when Mr. Vaucrosson sought leave to introduce another witness, Eganolf's wife, Shirley.

On Monday, Ms Hill had told the court she was bitten on the ankle during a routine inspection of the business on June 10 last year.

She was in a back yard, where refrigerated food was stored, and had no idea the dog was there although she had seen some food containers tucked away in the corner of the yard.

Eganolf, of Sleepy Hollow Drive, Hamilton Parish, said the dog had been on the premises about eight years.

But yesterday Mrs. Eganolf read out a Police statement in which she claimed she had informed Ms Hill about the dog.

"On a previous visit Hill had been made aware by me that there was a dog in the back yard,'' the statement read. She added: "I am positive she knew there was a dog there.''