A boy of seven suffered horrific head and eye injuries in a savage dog attack outside his school yesterday.
Jude Keir was set upon by a Staffordshire bull terrier just seconds after he left the playground with pals. He went to pet the animal, which suddenly pinned him to the ground and attacked.
Last night, his parents said Jude could have been killed and they thanked hero parent Chris Hemming and a mum who managed to drag the dog off.
Dad Derek, 37, said: “If it had not been for them, my son could have lost his eye or been killed. We can’t thank them enough.
2″Jude was pinned down and screaming. We know we have been very lucky. The hospital had a worry with his eyelid being totally split, but we are hoping he can make a full recovery.”
Parents and children were left traumatised by Tuesday’s attack outside Woodhead Primary School in Hamilton.
Last night, hero dad-of-two Chris, 34, told how he and an unidentified mum fought to get the dog off the youngster.
He said: “One minute things were normal, the next I heard really savage snarling and growling. I looked over and the dog had pinned something to the ground. I thought it was another dog, but then I saw it was a boy and heard ear-splitting screams.”
“I ran over and yanked at the lead. The dog was out of control. It was barbaric. I had to use my full strength. I remember thinking that if its jaws had locked I could be doing more harm than good, but I had no choice. I finally got the dog off and the boy was covered in blood. I couldn’t see how bad the injuries were. It was horrific.”
Another mum who witnessed the attack said last night: “If that man and the other woman had not been there to help, that wee boy would have been killed. It was not going to stop.”
Jude, who celebrated his seventh birthday just 10 days ago, had been walking out of school when the dog – which was on a lead but not muzzled – ran to him. The owners later told other parents they had only had the animal for a day.
Jude was rushed to Wishaw General Hospital, then transferred to Yorkhill Sick Kids Hospital in Glasgow, where he had 40 stitches put in a horrendous eye wound.
The dog has been reported to police and officers revealed that a man of 50 and two women, aged 24 and 26, would be the subject of reports to the procurator fiscal.
The Control of Dogs (Scotland) Act comes into force this year and we wait to see if the full force of the law will at last be brought to bear on people who put the public at risk of serious injury and even death by keeping such powerful and potentially lethal animals.
Bonnar & Company has a specialist team set up to deal with dog attacks on adults and children and we can be contacted for free legal advice on 0800 163 978.