Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SAVAGED BY TOTS
Little girl bitten over 15 times at soft play centre
A TODDLER was scarred for life after being bitten more than 15 times by kids at a soft play centre.
Seventeen-month-old Willow-ivy Doherty suffered the “nightmare” during a day out with her mum Becky, brother Tucker, six, and sister Aurora, three.
Becky, 33, said: “She looks like she’s been savaged by a dog, not a child.”
The single mum of six took her three youngest to Little Bees in Seacroft, Leeds, and sat watching from a table overlooking the indoor play area.
She was looking at Aurora when she heard another mum scream: “Oh my God, whose baby is this?”
She said: “She had pulled the boy off Willow. He had hold of her neck.”
Becky raced over to find Willow-ivy blue and not breathing and the boy standing “with a big smile on his face, with blood all around his mouth”.
She said she believed he was two and was with his brother, aged four.
She said she shouted “where is your mum?” but the boy’s mother did not come forward until staff were giving Willow-ivy first aid. Becky said: “She kept shouting ‘That’s what kids do, that’s what kids do!’ over and over.”
Becky took Willow-ivy to hospital where she was given injections for Hepatitis B and treatment for her cuts.
She suffered four to her face, two to her fingers, three to her back, several to her head, one to her ear, one to her shoulder, one to her wrist and one to her leg.
She needs more jabs and to see a specialist about a skin graft on her face.
Becky said: “They said there were bite marks from two different children.”
The owner of Little Bees, who did not wish to be named, confirmed that she helped Willow-ivy but said: “We are not a nursery. The children need parental supervision.”
West Yorkshire Police said a social services referral was made in relation to the suspect child and the case closed.