A DOG owner who ordered his Rhodesian Ridgebacks to attack their victim again when they had just bitten him has been jailed.

Sam Gordon set the animals on Cordell Roberts after they had already sunk their teeth into him in front of horrified witnesses on Newport’s Commercial Road.

Prosecutor Thomas Stanway played dramatic CCTV footage capturing the shocking incident as he opened his case.

Cardiff Crown Court was shown Sam Gordon, 29, then whipping Mr Roberts with a dog lead after he’d jumped on top of a car to escape the beasts.

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Mr Stanway explained how the victim had been attacked by the dogs on June 8, 2020, after he was shopping at Lifestyle Express on Commercial Road.

The animals were off their lead and they ran at him and bit his thigh, finger and just above the hip.

He had to be treated at Newport’s Royal Gwent Hospital for his “unpleasant injuries”.

The court was told there was some “history” between Mr Roberts and Sam Gordon. Mr Roberts knew the dogs belonged to Gordon.

Mr Stanway said: “The victim told the defendant they had just bitten him. He denied this and he pointed towards Mr Roberts and told his dogs, ‘Go after him.’

“The complainant ran and got on the roof and a bonnet of a red Toyota car to escape them.”

The CCTV footage showed the defendant then whipping Mr Roberts with the lead and members of the public recording the attack on their mobile phones.

The prosecutor said the victim had not wished to make a complaint about being thrashed with the lead.

Although this incident did not form part of the case against Sam Gordon, the judge, Recorder Paul Hopkins QC, told the court: “It was inciting the dogs even more.”

The defendant, formerly of Latch Square, Pill, Newport, pleaded guilty to two counts of being in charge of a dog which was dangerously out of control.

He also took part in a separate offence that occurred in the Commercial Road area on June 23, 2020, with co-defendant Jak Gordon, 28, of Arundel Road, Newport.

That involved Mr Roberts’ stepfather Maurice Swaby being the victim of “appalling racist abuse” at the hands of the pair when they were “under the influence of alcohol” outside his home.

Both defendants admitted racially aggravated harassment.

Sam Gordon also pleaded guilty to racially aggravated criminal damage after he smashed a rear light on the Mr Swaby’s car.

Mr Stanway said Jak Gordon had 23 previous convictions for 40 offences, including escape from lawful custody.

Sam Gordon had 11 previous convictions for 15 offences, including producing cannabis.

David Pinnell, for Jak Gordon, said: “This was appalling behaviour and he accepts that."

Karl Williams, representing Sam Gordon, said his client had since moved away from Newport, was in a stable relationship and found work as a labourer.

Recorder Hopkins jailed Jak Gordon for eight months, suspended for 18 months, and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work.

He was made the subject of an electronically monitored curfew for three months between 8pm and 6am and told to pay £250 costs and a £150 surcharge.

Sam Gordon was jailed for 28 months and banned from keeping dogs for six years.