Sleeping baby Jaden Mack mauled to death by family terriers
Maurice Chittenden
A BABY boy was savaged to death by his grandmother’s two family dogs yesterday.
Jaden Mack is the fourth child to die in such an attack in the past 30 months and his death will spark new demands for tighter controls on dangerous dogs.
Jaden, aged 3 ½ months, was an only child who had been dropped off by his parents, Christopher 31, and Alexandra, 30, on Friday evening so they could enjoy a night out with friends.
The boy was due to spend the whole night at the three-bedroom terraced home of Denise Wilson, his grandmother, in the former mining town of Ystrad Mynach in south Wales.
Neighbours say the baby was asleep in his basket on the ground floor of the house when the dogs attacked.
They heard screams shortly after midnight as Wilson ran into the street shouting for help. They went into the house to find Jaden still being mauled by the dogs.
The animals were dragged off and one neighbour tried to give the baby the kiss of life. Jaden, who is reported to have undergone a heart operation when two months old, was taken by ambulance to Prince Charles hospital in nearby Merthyr Tydfil, but was pronounced dead soon afterwards.
Wilson was later taken to the same hospital suffering from shock. Yesterday she was being interviewed by police while the boy’s parents were being comforted by detectives. The couple, who are in their thirties, married just over a year ago and live a mile away.
Police took the dogs to a local veterinary surgery where they were destroyed.
Neighbours said it was a regular arrangement for the baby to be left with his grandmother.
Heather Organ, 47, said: “The grandmother was screaming, ‘The baby is dead! He is dead!’ When I entered the room, the baby was obviously dead. He had a severe injury to his neck.”
Marion Harding, 64, who lives two doors away, said: “It was a terrible shock when I heard the baby had died -— it is just too dreadful for words.”
Wilson, separated from her husband Terry, is understood to have got the bull terrier 18 months ago after problems with a prowler at the house.
Another neighbour said: “Dogs can get jealous — it may be something to do with the grandmother making a fuss of the baby. When one dog attacks, other dogs will often join in. It is their instinct.”
Chief Inspector Jim Baker of Gwent police said: “This is a tragic incident for the family and the community. Police family liaison officers are supporting the family through this difficult time.
“Although the exact circumstances of the baby’s death are yet to be established, we would like to reiterate the advice that dogs should never be left unsupervised with young children.”
Heavy toll of failed laws
THE death of another child mauled by family pets will lead to urgent calls for a review of the Dangerous Dogs Act.
It was introduced in 1991 after a series of attacks on children but has failed to eradicate the problem.
An estimated 78,000 people, 1,000 of them children, were treated for dog bites in 2006-7.
The act made it illegal to own breeds such as the pit bull terrier, and targeted owners of any dog dangerously out of control. The maximum penalty is two years in jail.
One dog involved in yesterday’s death was described as a staffordshire bull terrier. The RSPCA fears that breeders are re-naming pit bulls to avoid prosecution.
Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP for Hendon, said: “Dogs like pit bulls are being kept as fashion accessories by people who don’t know how to look after them.”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/u ... 683650.ece
Of zou die vrouw daar met haar neus opgestaan hebben?
Die leg je toch ver buiten bereik in een wiegje?
