An elderly couple claims they were brutally beaten when a fellow pet owner objected to where they were walking their dog at a dog park.
The shocking incident occurred when Richard Becker, 78, and wife Yan Becker took their Border Collie for his regular walk at Fremont Park Dog Park in Adelaide’s northern suburb of Elizabeth East on Monday.
Mr Becker said they were confronted by a man walking his Jack Russell terrier while accompanied by two young boys who berated the older couple for walking their border collie in an area of the park that was reserved for small dogs.
The pensioner claims the altercation quickly turned violent.
“He’s standing right in her (Mrs. Becker) face and he’s cursing at her, so I stood up to defend my wife, and he turned around and said, ‘Oh, you’re looking for a fight, aren’t you?’” Mr Becker told 7News.
“And I said ‘yes, if that’s what you want,’ and he punched me in the face.
“He hit me about three or four times… I think he kicked my knee and pushed me over.
“While I was trying to get up on the grass, he punched my wife in the face.”
The couple was later treated for facial injuries and shock.
78-year-old Richard Becker from Adelaide claims he and his wife were attacked for allegedly walking their dog in the ‘wrong part’ of the park
During the incident, Yan Becker took a photo of the alleged attacker, which was given to police
Becker called his attacker ‘an annoying man, looking for trouble as if it were his front yard’.
Ms Becker, who took a photo of the alleged attacker, said she was now too scared to take the dog for a walk in the park again.
The photo was provided to the South Australian Police.
“We showed the photo to the police and then they looked at it and said ‘we think we recognize him,’” Becker said.
Police visited the couple’s home on Tuesday to further investigate the incident.