Maria and her friend Stephanie have recently embarked on a fitness journey which is made up of 3 days of gym, 2 days of running in their neighbourhood, as well as a hike over the weekend. One late Wednesday February evening, as they were running on their usual route, two dogs ran out from one of the houses and bit Maria, who had stopped to catch her breath. Stephanie heard her screaming in agony and turns around to see the two dogs attacking her friend. She starts screaming for help while throwing stones at the dogs. The commotion drew the attention of the owner of the house, who came out, and somehow managed to restrain the dogs. Maria sustained serios injuries to both legs and her right arm.

The owner of the dogs drove Maria, accompanied by Stephanie, to the nearest emergency room where she received treatment for physical injuries sustained. She recovers from her wounds over time.

Stephanie, who knows you are a law student, approaches you to enquire whether her friend could sue the owner of the dogs for the harm sustained. She tells you that when they were driving to the hospital, the owner of the dogs had been frantic and had made a statement to the effect that his dogs are usually restrained and the gate always locked. He furthermore stated that he did not know how the dogs managed to leave the yard and attack.

With reference to relevant principles and case law, establish whether Maria will be able to prove that the owner of the dogs acted for the purposes of establishing delictual liability.