A woman whose 90-year-old mother died after being attacked by a number of dogs on a South Coast beach wants NSW to follow Queensland's lead and hold owners criminally responsible for the actions of their animal.
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Ada Holland was walking with friends along Vincentia's Collingwood Beach in March 2020 when three dogs, who had escaped their yard, attacked, first a 79-year-old woman and then Mrs Holland.
Her daughter, Gloria, was on the beach at the time, and while the dogs also turned on her, she managed to fight them off with an umbrella.
Mrs Holland suffered "extreme injuries" and went into cardiac arrest. Despite attention by paramedics she died on the beach.
Outside the inquest into her mother's death Gloria Holland said she is hopeful laws will change.
"I'm actually pretty angry ... we don't have any real laws to protect people from dog attacks or death caused by dog attack," Ms Holland said.
"I actually welcome what is happening in Queensland where they're looking at, they're going to imprison people whose dogs attack and-or kill people.
"I think that's what we need here in New South Wales as along similar lines," she said.
The Queensland government is considering a raft of tougher measures to help reduce dog attacks, including jail time for serious offending, banning certain breeds and requiring all dogs to be "effectively controlled" in public.
The owners of three dogs involved in the incident were fined a combined $10,000 and banned from owning dogs for five years.
Adam Newbold, 38, and Candice Jane Bernhard, 31, of North Nowra pleaded guilty to charges of owning a dog which attacked a person, offences which carry a maximum fine of $11,000.
The dogs were euthanised.
In making her sentence, Magistrate Viney said the charges only related to the dog's attack and not the "death of Mrs Holland".
Mrs Holland, better known as Sally, was heavily involved in a number of local organisations - from Red Cross, Probus and Senior Citizens, to the Collingwood Beach Cleanup Crew and many more.
The inquest into Mrs Holland's death continues in the New South Wales Coroner's Court.
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