Chris Brown ordered to pay $13mil to housekeeper after his 'guard dog' mauled her at Californian home
The US singer told a court he left the property before medics arrived to avoid a "media circus"
US singer Chris Brown has been ordered to pay $12.9million (£9.7m) after his guard dog left his housekeeper "mauled and disfigured" in an attack at one of his properties.
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Maria Avila was attacked by a 200lb (90kg) Caucasian shepherd owned by the R&B star while she was sorting through the rubbish at his house in Tarzana, California, in 2020.
Brown was home during the attack and claimed to secure the dog in a kennel afterwards while his security called for an ambulance.
But a court heard in his own testimony that he left the property before medics arrived to avoid a "media circus" given his "status as an artist", he said.
A jury sitting on a trial in Los Angeles ruled in favour of Ms Avila, who said she was left with serious injuries to her arm and face.
The attack left her needing dozens of sutures and skin grafts from her abdomen to her arm as well as causing nerve damage and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Brown claimed the pet was necessary as a "guard dog" due to experiencing lots of "stalker-type situations".
He told the jury that he heard the dog growling outside and rushed downstairs to find Avila face down and motionless on the ground.
Describing the scene he was greeted with, Brown pointed to his forehead and traced a finger down his nose and under his eye and said: "It was cut, like, severed."
"I know it’s graphic, but you could see the skin was kind of raised. You could see the cut and the blood coming out. It was a lot of blood," Rolling Stone reports.
He admitted negligence but said he had warned Ms Avila and her sister Patricia not to go outside without asking him because of the danger posed by Hades.
Brown and his company Black Pyramid LLC must now pay her $12.9m (£9.7m).
Ms Avila told the court via a Spanish interpreter that she was left with severe scarring on her face, as well as limited mobility after surgeons grafted skin from her abdomen to repair her arm.
She stated that she had not been able to return to work as a housekeeper due to a lack of arm strength.
Brown was also ordered to pay Patricia $885,000 (£668,000) and Maria's husband, Oscar Olivo, $50,000 (£38,000).