Zanibou, now 7, can't easily speak or eat solid foods. She will need care the rest of her life. While her family will make sure she gets the love and attention she needs, her father says they are worried about her future.
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| Zainabou before the attack |
"I worry about her life," says Abdou Drame. "Somebody can't talk. Somebody can't eat. Somebody can do nothing after she's grown. I don't know how she's going to live."
But they look on the bright side, too, and celebrate every step forward.
"She's doing real good," Abdou said. "She's getting better. Everything's OK. She's doing good."
In June 2014, 6-year-old Zainabou was playing outside with her 9-year-old brother when two pit bulls attacked her on the sidewalk in front of their Westwood home.
Witnesses said one dog was “thrashing his head back and forth” with the girl in its mouth. The dogs bit off Zainabou's tongue, tore her windpipe and disfigured her face.
When police arrived, one officer cleared Zainabou’s airway and cradled her in his arms until EMT's arrived. After one of the dogs lunged at an officer, police shot and killed both dogs.
Since then, Zanibou has had lots of facial reconstruction surgeries. Everyone is sad when the rest of the family eats, her father said.
"We are still sad because she can't eat -- she can't talk. Anytime we're eating she's sad. Sometimes she cries."
Still, her father is proud of her fighting spirit. Zainabou went back to school within months of the attack. Because speaking is difficult, she communicates mostly by sign language. But she told WCPO she's doing very well in school.
"All A's and one B," she said.
Zainabou's medical bills are well over $1 million and counting. So her parents sued the dogs' owner, Zontae Irby, and Irby's mother, who owns the home where he was staying.
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| Irby's mother Volores White lies and denies knowing about the drug dealing going on inside her home or that the pit bulls were to guard the drug house. |
A judgment of $7.5 million dollars was affirmed by Judge Jody Luebbers this week, but collection isn't likely.
Irby is in prison for marijuana trafficking. His mother, Volores White, claims the dogs weren't hers and the attack didn't happen on her property.
Irby's brother Dierres Lee also has the Aquadale Lane home as his official address. Lee was sentenced to 12 years in prison after he admitted to killing a La Salle High School student last year in a drug deal gone wrong.
Court documents show that authorities have received numerous complaints of drug activity at the Aquadale Lane residence dating back to 2007.
Police said the dogs in Drame's attack had been guarding a drug trafficking operation.
Zainabou's father is resigned to that.
"If you can have it, we can have it, but if we can't, we can do nothing," Abdou said.
Cincinnati Police and other groups have raised funds for the family, and he's grateful for that.
"I know a lot of people pray for her," Abdou Drame said. "I appreciate everything."
(WCPO - Nov 6, 2015)
Related:
- Pit bull mauls 6-year-old: 'They had to basically put her face back on'
- Dramatic dashcam footage shows moment cops saved girl, 6, from attack by savage pit bulls outside her home
- Owner of dogs that mauled 6-year-old girl indicted
- County attempting to seize home of dog owner in pit bull attack
- Why is it so difficult to charge owners of vicious dogs after attacks?
- Should pit bull ban be reinstated?
- Girl attacked by dogs continues long recovery
I don't want to see a single pit bull apologist write one word here, unless its that they are giving up their dogs and supporting BSL. The whole business makes me furious.
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