Wednesday, September 21, 2016

United Kingdom: Woman mauled by pit bulls wants them banned

UNITED KINGDOM -- Nicola Durkel, 44, was bitten by two Staffordshire pit bull terriers when she was walking with her husband Mehmet and Shih tzu Molly.

The dogs’ owner was jailed earlier this month but Nicola is still having counselling, more than six months after the March 3 attack outside their home in London Road, Barking.

She is so frightened that she no longer lets her daughters Lillybelle, eight, and Ellie, 14, take Molly out by themselves.

“I’m too scared to take my dog out for a walk now,” Nicola admitted.

“My little girl always used to take the dog out the back but I don’t let her any more – they would have easily killed a child.”


One of the pit bulls clamped its jaw around Molly and, when Nicola tried to intervene, she was bitten four times – leaving lasting scars.

“I can’t even look at pit bulls any more,” Nicola said. “My sister has one but I refuse to go in her house.

“They should ban them. One day they can be fine and then another they can just turn.”

The pit bulls’ owner Donna Doust, 49, of Baron Road, Dagenham, was jailed for 26 weeks at Romford Magistrates’ Court on September 6 after pleading guilty to two counts of owning dangerous dogs alongside one count of causing racial harassment, abuse or intimidating behavior and one count of causing criminal damage to the window of a stairwell in a council-owned building.

She was also banned from owning dogs for five years and her bull terriers were put down.

“Justice has been done,” added Nicola, a carer.

“It shows others that they can’t just get away with it.

“The dogs were out of control – what if they had gone for my neck?”


(Barking and Dagenham Post - Sept 20, 2016)

No comments:

Post a Comment