A nine-year-old girl was left with serious injuries to her leg after being mauled by a dog at a Fife house.
The attack came after the same dog had earlier lunged at the child and had to be shut away by its owner Hayley Fyfe.
The Staffordshire bull terrier, named Leo, had been playing with the girl and another child at the time of the first incident.
When the group sat down to eat lunch together it sank its teeth into the screaming child’s thigh and refused to let go.
Dunfermline Sheriff Court heard the girl required treatment at Edinburgh’s Sick Kids hospital for the deep wounds.
First attack described
Fiscal depute Mat Piskorz said: “The accused owned a dog called Leo, which was a Staffordshire terrier, that was registered in her name.
“At 11am (the two children) were playing on the first floor.
“(The girl) took the dog’s bone and threw it.
“The dog jumped and pulled her hair.
“She managed to remove the dog from her hair and went to the bedroom, screaming.
“The accused attended and her partner removed the dog and the children continued playing.”
Refused to let go after bite
He said at around 1pm the same day, the group gathered for lunch.
“They went into the kitchen where the dog was present.
“(The girl) went to sit at the kitchen table and as she did the dog suddenly bit her right thigh.
“She was screaming as the dog wouldn’t let her go.”
He said Fyfe’s partner was eventually able to get the dog to let go.
The child was left with a “full depth wound down muscle fascia” and was treated at a Fife hospital before being transferred to Edinburgh, where she underwent surgery.
The dog was destroyed shortly after the incident.
‘Error of judgement’
Solicitor Jamie Moncrieff, defending, said Fyfe believed the children had been “teasing” the dog earlier in the day.
He said: “She was not aware of the full extent of the incident.
“She separated the dog from the children but felt the incident had come to an end and there was no risk to the children.
“This happened suddenly and she expresses genuine remorse.
“It was an error of judgement rather than recklessness.
“There had never been any issues with the dog previously.
“Had she been aware of the full extent of the earlier incident more robust steps would have been taken.”
Pled guilty and fined
Fyfe, 36, pled guilty at to having a dog dangerously out of control at her home in Dunfermline’s Segal Place on August 11, 2019.
Sheriff Charles Macnair said to her: “You were told by (the girl) that the dog had attacked her and somehow you thought that must have been her fault and not the dog’s.
“It was not her fault, it was the dogs and it caused very significant injury to her.”
He fined Fyfe £750.
