‘Nightmares’ after dog mauls toddler
Keri Morphus and Ben Johnson want justice for their 2-year-old daughter after she was attacked by a dog outside their home.
On Wednesday last week, Morphus went to collect the mail from the family’s letterbox with daughter Amelia-Jayne Johnson. A woman doing a pamphlet round was outside with two dogs. Amelia-Jayne often went outside to play with one of the dogs, an old, black labrador.
‘‘It always licks her hand and lets her pat it; she’s really attached to it,’’ Morphus said.
But another dog the family had not seen before, thought to be a staffordshire-cross, was also with the woman.
‘‘Next minute, the other dog just turns around and threw [Amelia-Jayne] on the ground and started attacking her ... she bit her in the face,’’ Morphus said.
‘‘I couldn’t stop shaking, there was just so much blood gashing out. I tried to grab the dog off her but it just wouldn’t go. I just ran and got what I could to get the bleeding to stop, then got on the phone to the ambulance.’’
Amelia-Jayne was taken to hospital with a broken tooth and deep cuts around her left eye, nose, mouth and cheek.
The toddler underwent sur- gery on Wednesday night and was discharged from hospital the following afternoon.
‘‘She’s been OK but really, really scared. She won’t let any of us go outside,’’ Morphus said.
‘‘As soon as we say we’re going to go outside for a smoke it’s ‘no Mummy, no Daddy, doggy get you’. No 2-year-old should have to go through that.’’
Johnson said his daughter had been waking up screaming, ‘‘obviously having nightmares of the attack’’. The couple did not think she would be going anywhere near dogs soon.
‘‘The lady with the pamphlets said the dog’s not good around kids – [but] then why would you walk a dog through the streets like that, it should have a muzzle,’’ Morphus said.
The couple wanted the dog to be put down. ‘‘At least it would put our minds at rest – that it’s not going to attack anyone else,’’ Johnson said.
A Christchurch City Council spokeswoman said an investigation was under way and she would not comment further.