In the worst-case scenario, Frank Hanebuth could face charges of grievous bodily harm. It is still not clear how the two dogs got out of his heavily guarded property. “The question of whether this was a deliberate act still remains,” officials said on Saturday. 

The aggressive dogs had been running lose in the district of Wedemark, north of Hannover, on Thursday evening. They bit five people, causing serious injuries to two of them. 

In a newspaper interview Hanebuth apologized publically to those who had been attacked.

“It was a terrible accident. I hugely regret what happened to the victims,” Hanebuth told the Neue Presse. “It is absolutely clear that I will use all the means at my disposal to take responsibility for the incident.” The 46-year-old owner had himself gone to the police on Friday.

According to the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung, Hanebuth’s lawyer expects his client to only be charged with bodily injury caused by negligence. However, there is also the prospect that he could face the more serious charge of grievous bodily harm.

Hanebuth said he was “horrified and shocked” by what had happened. The dogs had been trained and had never attacked anyone before. “They weren’t beasts,” he said.