A mum and her seven-year-old daughter were rushed to hospital after being mauled by a German Shepherd dog while they were out shopping.
Vicky Rafferty, 35 described how she and daughter Evie-Louise Mannion were attacked at Gallagher Retail Park in Coventry on June 6.
She said: ‘We were walking along and it literally just attacked my daughter Evie-Louise. It pulled her to the floor. Luckily she pulled her hands up to her face but she got bites to her arms – it’s a mess.
‘It grabbed her by her foot and pulled her to the ground and carried on biting her from her shoulder to just past her elbow. The dog just wasn’t letting go. I was pulling my daughter by her legs, anything to get her away from that dog.’
Vicky recalled the moment she had to kick the dog in the face to get if off her daughter.
She said: ‘I managed to get it off my daughter by kicking it in the face. I was screaming, “Get my daughter away, get my daughter away”.
‘It let go of her after four kicks to the face. Then it got hold of me. I was on the floor and it was biting me.
‘It was a six-year-old German shepherd. The owner was trying to pull it back by the harness but had no chance.’
Vicky was bitten five times, including nasty puncture wounds to her hip and the top of her leg.
‘I was fighting it on the floor,’ she said. ‘I had a big padded coat on and it tore through that.’
The dog was then locked back in the car after the owner managed to get it under control.
Vicky said she fainted twice during the attack and also suffers from prolapsed discs in her spine.
She and Evie-Louise were treated at the scene for their injuries before being rushed off to University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire for further treatment and tetanus jabs.
As a result of the attack, Evie-Louise’s arm had swollen up ‘like a balloon’ and she was bitten seven times which resulted in a puncture wound where fat tissue was exposed.
Evie-Louise is deeply traumatised by the incident and faces a return visit to A&E at UHCW to have an x-ray due to severe pain in her shoulder.
Vicky said: ‘She’s not sleeping well and crying and shouting in her sleep at night – “Mum, Mum, please, please”.
‘She’s off school for the week, on antibiotics and still got an open wound.’
The dog was taken away by a specialist police unit from West Midlands Police.
But Vicky fears it will still attack other people in the future.
She added: ‘This dog could be back out there soon. I’m worried that it could attack a child again but next time it could be fatal.’
A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: ‘We were called to Gallagher Retail Park in Coventry on Monday June 6 to reports a child had been bitten by a dog.
‘The seven-year-old and her mother who suffered bruising were treated at the scene by paramedics.
‘The dog, a German shepherd was seized under Section 3 of the Dangerous Dog Act. An investigation will now take place and the dog’s behaviour will be assessed.’
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