Dog attack leaves girl injured, traumatised

A bicycle ride turned into a horrific nightmare for six-year-old Chelsea Alexander when she was bitten by a ferocious German Shepherd dog outside her Tabaquite home on Saturday night. 

Chelsea, a second-year pupil at the Tabaquite Roman Catholic Primary School, needed stitches to her right hand and buttocks afterwards. Her mother, Charlotte Alexander, 37, of Old Trainline, Tabaquite, told the T&T Guardian she intended to take legal action against the dog’s owners. She said it was not the first time the dog had attacked a child in the neighbourhood. 

“The dog bit my niece before and it also bit my neighbour’s daughter and one of my other neighbours. They were bitten by the same dog. The dog is not in a fenced area. They allowing the dog to roam free,” she said. 

Alexander said little Chelsea had been traumatised by the incident and was crying all the time. “She keeps saying, ‘mummy, the dog almost kill me, mummy, what you woulda do?’ Her hand is swollen. She cannot go to school for the week.” 

She said she was further distressed when the police told her there was nothing they could do about the dog attack. “They tell me the Dangerous Dog Act is not law and they cannot charge the owner, they cannot do anything,” she said. 

Alexander said that around 7 pm on Saturday, Chelsea was riding her bicycle outside their home. She got off the bike to turn around and ride up the street when the dog attacked her. “The dog bit her skirt and her buttocks. She fell to the ground and was fighting off the dog. She get bite on her hand and she started to scream. “I was cleaning the church next door when I heard her screams,” Alexander said. 

She said her brother Curtis ran over to Chelsea and the dog ran off. The mother of one said when they called the dog’s owner he said he did not know when the dog left the yard. She said the dog owner’s wife apologised for the incident.

“That is not good enough. My child could have been killed. They have to fence around that place properly if they want to keep that dog,” she said. Little Chelsea, speaking in a feeble voice, told the T&T Guardian she was afraid to ride her bicycle again. “I am still scared. I do not want to ride my bike. I was very scared when it happen. I was scared of the dog all the time. My hand hurting,” the child sobbed.  Investigations are continuing.