Tot mauled to death by dog was often left alone, neighbors say

NEW YORK -- The parents of a tragic Brooklyn tot savagely mauled by his [boyfriend]'s pumped-up pooch often left the boy alone with the killer dog, neighbors said Sunday.

"He had no chance," said neighbor Sabrina Ramos. "I don't know how someone would leave a child that small with a dog that big."

Neither Jayelin Graham's mother, Saquina "Honey" Jubeark, nor his stepfather, Damian "Dread
 Jones, have been charged in the boy's horrific death late Friday. [CORRECTION: They were not married. Ergo, he was NOT the boy's stepfather.]

Investigators say the brutal pooch - a 65-pound Cane Corso named "Machete" - chomped down on the 4-year-old boy's throat after his mom left him and his siblings alone with the animal.

Jayelin died from injuries to his right carotid artery, larynx, trachea and esophagus, said the city medical examiner's office.

Neighbors say Jones, 29, trained his dogs to be killers.

"The dogs are vicious," Ramos said. "I wouldn't stand outside with that big one around. I wouldn't let my child outside if that dog was out."

Jones has a rap sheet with busts for weapons possession, kidnapping, endangering the welfare of a child and reckless endangerment, records show.

Ramos said investigators from the Administration for Children's Services often visited the apartment when the family first moved in two years ago, but the visits tapered off.

A spokeswoman for the ACS declined to comment pending the outcome of an investigation.

The apartment where Jayelin Graham
was killed is stained with his blood.

(NY Daily News - May 29, 2011)