Warning: This story contains the name and image of a deceased Indigenous person.
A killer dog mauled a real estate agent just 18 months before fatally attacking a man heroically defending the lives of a woman and child.
Colin Amatto, 40, died after rushing to help a 10-year-old girl and her mother who had been bitten by a dog inside a home in western Sydney on the afternoon of January 24, 2019.
An inquest into his death found that proud man Yuin was “savagely mauled” by a Staffordshire bull terrier called Boof before another member of staff called Hope joined in the “attack of extreme ferocity”.
He had lived with the dogs for almost a year before the attack and they often slept with him, the court was told.
Colin Amatto (pictured), 40, has been hailed as a hero for his brave actions.
Amatto suffered more than 80 injuries to his head, body and limbs during the violent and bloody attack.
He did not regain consciousness until his family made the heartbreaking decision to take him off life support five weeks later.
The tragic death of the 40-year-old man is being examined as part of an investigation into the circumstances surrounding seven fatal dog attacks that occurred between 2019 and 2023.
Carmel Forbes, deputy state coroner, has been tasked with assessing the effectiveness of council and police response to deadly dog attacks in order to prevent further tragedies.
Just 18 months before Amatto was beaten to death in his home, the investigation showed that authorities had arrested Boof for launching a “fearsome attack” on a real estate agent.
Property manager Barry Grant had been visiting the property to speak to the owners, who were not home, when he was attacked by “very, very vicious” staff.
The investigation indicated that he was hospitalized for four days and had to undergo surgery for serious injuries inflicted on his arms, legs and torso in the “terrifying” attack.
Boof was seized by Penrith Council companion animal officer Danielle Whitley while NSW Police conducted an investigation into the circumstances of the attack.
The dogs were sedated on site with the help of RSCPA NSW inspectors and handed over to the local council. They were sacrificed the next day.
Property manager Barry Grant was mauled by Boof on July 24, 2017 in ‘terrifying attack’
“The safest thing to do was to seize the dog while the investigation was being carried out,” he said.
However, Ms Whitley told the inquest she was not sure whether she could legally seize Boof because companion animal legislation protects a pet’s right to defend itself against intruders.
“I explained (to police) that if (Mr Grant) was trespassing, the council would take no further action against the dog or the owner,” he said.
In circumstances where a person was found to have trespassed onto a property without permission and a dog fought back or defended the property, Ms Whitley said she believed the council had no grounds to confiscate the animal.
Whether the force of the attack on Grant – whose flesh was described as being “torn” from his body – should have been sufficient grounds for seizure is a question the inquiry will assess.
Whitley’s former superior, Amanda Burns, Penrith Council’s companion animals officer, said she shared Whitley’s doubts about whether Boof should have been seized.
‘It was confiscated. Maybe it shouldn’t have been like that,’ she said.
Mr. Amatto appears in the photo following the terror dog attack.
Burns said the dog attack was “unclear and messy” because it appeared Grant had entered the home’s backyard when the owners were not home without their permission.
She contacted the police and recommended that Boof be released from the pound because he had acted in defense of his property.
Despite the cruelty of the attack, the companion animal officer said she did not believe there were any restrictions she could have placed on staff before releasing him.
The dog fatally mauled Mr Amatto less than two years after he was returned to his owners.
The inquest was told police often turned to the council’s pet officers for help in case of dog attacks.
“Many times police officers don’t know how to investigate a dog attack or what action they can take, so they ask us for advice,” Ms Whitley said.
“The council (often) investigates dog attacks on police because we have the staff to do so who are trained to deal with them.”
Mr. Amatto’s sister Kristy (pictured left) and aunt Rhonda Amatto (pictured right) attended the inquest. Kristy said outside court that she was “very proud” of her brother’s heroic actions.
Burns, who has worked for Penrith Council for more than a decade, estimated animal enforcement officers investigate about 75 per cent of dog attacks in the Penrith area.
He said the process of sharing information and making decisions in collaboration with police was often difficult at the time Grant was mauled.
Neither the police nor the council had access to each other’s dog attack files, so “it was difficult to understand what everyone was doing”, Burns told the inquest.
The effectiveness of decisions involving multiple agencies and the scope or limitations of the legislation will be put under the microscope during the investigation.