A six-year-old South African lass is currently lying in the hospital after a rottweiler viciously attacked her while she was out with her mother in Pretoria.
Her mum, Jessica Delport, had gone to Pretoria to sign a contract and collect the keys to new apartment she had just rented.
When they arrived at the apartment, Delport and her eldest daughter stepped out of the car and there was a rottweiler which the owner of the house told them was a friendly dog and there was no need to fear.
“It came near us, to smell our scent and did not do anything weird. I went into the house with my eldest daughter to sign the contract and I got the keys. When I returned to the car and opened my passenger door the dog just went into the back of the car where my other daughter was.” Jessica said
Six-year-old Caylee was sitting in her car seat, playing a game on a phone.
“She didn’t talk or move and the dog started smelling her face, which made me uncomfortable, but I thought this dog just wants to smell her like he did with us then get out of the car. And the next moment she started crying that the dog was biting her. She started screaming and I saw the dog had my daughter’s arm in his mouth. I got on top of the dog and wrapped my legs around him, putting my hands into his mouth, to pry his jaws open.
“I even have stitches on my fingers from trying to open his mouth, the teeth just sunk into my fingers and I eventually got him loose from my daughter.” Jessica
Delport sustained puncture wounds on her arm and under her arm close to the lungs.
“The old man grabbed my daughter and tried to run to safety, but as soon he tried to run, the dog slipped from my grip and got hold of my daughter’s leg. The dog shredded her leg, we couldn’t get it to leave her, it was just terrible.”
She said the owner of the dog was not available.
“He is in Canada and it is a complex and the dog was running free and just attacked my daughter unprovoked. He pulled my daughter from the car seat, that’s how strong the dog was and he just kept going for her.”
Delport said her daughter was in theatre for operations and had to have 150 stitches. She had 16 puncture wounds but is recovering well.
“We haven’t seen her legs and the stitches but it was a nightmare and it still is. If I close my eyes I see it happening all over again, I see my daughter and me trying to get this dog away from her and I just see her arm being crushed by this dog. I can’t even sleep. I haven’t slept in three days because I have those pictures in my head, the cuts, the bruises … and it’s costing us,” an emotional Delport said.
