Texas man, 81, mauled to death by pit bulls as he desperately tried to protect wife

The widow of the elderly man who was brutally mauled by pit bulls screamed in anguish as the dog owners were sentenced to jail for his death .

Juanita Najera was seriously injured by the dogs who killed her 81-year-old veteran husband Ramon Najera as he tried to save her from the attack.

The widow sobbed as she told the court in San Antonio, Texas about her devastation about the loss of her husband. Dog owner Christian Moreno was sentenced to 18 years in prison and his wife Abilene Schnieder was sentenced to 15 years in prison. As the offence is not considered violent under state laws, they will be eligible for parole after serving just 25 percent of their sentences. The couple was also fined $5,000 each by 226th District Court Judge Velia Meza on Friday.

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Najera said: "You both took a big part of my life away. You took my better half away. I feel that you're serving what you deserve for the crime you committed," as reported by Daily Mail . Ramon died from his injuries as he shielded his 74-year-old wife from the fatal attack as the dogs had broken free from a yard and began the attack.

Police were then told the dogs, who were called Snow, King and Legend had been trained with meat to 'encourage aggression'. Neighbours had previously complained about the dogs who had twice attacked people before. The dogs were confiscated by authorities but had been returned after their kids 'begged' to take them back and had paid for their return.

The fatal attack on the Najera's happened in February 26, 2023 and saw Najera mauled to death, while his wife and two other men were injured. It saw firefighters use metal poles and pickaxes to try and fend the dogs off, and Juanita told the couple in court: "When your dog attacked me, I could hardly walk. My whole body would tremble. I could hardly get out of bed without any help. I had to have help every day."

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She further told them they could have "done something" and could have realized the dogs "needed to be put down" while her son told the court the couple had "shown no remorse" over the death. He said: "You are unremorseful, disgusting individuals. Disrespectful, you don't deserve to be released as free people in our city." The death was called "preventable" by Judge Meza and slammed the pair for not being better dog owners.

It was discovered that the pit bulls had made an easy escape through a hole in the fence, as investigators told news4sanantonio and the dogs were not wearing collars or harnesses, which is a requirement of Animal Control Services (ACS), and police said they'd received tips that the couple had been breeding and training dogs to be "aggressive with meat".