A FIVE YEAR OLD GIRL WAS ATTACKED BY THREE DOGS

The victim, who cried in pain as his crying father held her close, was ambushed by three giant Alsatian dogs belonging to her father's landlord on Alhaji Abdul Hakeem Bin Sulaimon Avenue, off Ewuren Road, Ikorodu.

Aside damaging an eye and removing a tooth, the three dogs also inflicted severe injuries on her (Aliyah) which lasted for about 2 hours.

A medical officer at the general hospital said Aliyah might need a plastic surgery to regain the use of her affected eye.

She also mentioned, "When she was brought here, we thought she was dead. One of her eyes is damaged. It might take a plastic surgery for her to regain her sight again. A tooth was detached by dogs, while the other set of teeth were seriously affected. She has multiple lacerations in her face, legs, arms and other parts."

Aliyah's father, Wasiu was a vulcanizer and also in charge of feeding the dogs after their owner had left for London, United Kingdom.

He had reportedly gone to get the dogs' feed on Monday and left Aliyah in the house.

One of the dogs, identified as Rover, allegedly broke loose from the kennle and entered into Wasiu's apartment.

The dog reportedly dragged her right from the house to the backyard where the two other dogs joined Rover in the attack.

Wasiu was told our correspondent that he was alerted to the incident by a neighbour..

He said, "Aliyah, my daughter, was formerly staying with her mother in Cotonou, Benin  Republic, before she started residing with me. Since then, she had become familiar with dogs and played with them. If any visitor approaches and is scared of coming in because of the dog, she goes out there and bring them in.

He continued, "She was suppose to go to school on Monday, but because of the issues I had with her teacher, I asked her to stay back at home till I get her a new school. I left her in the house around 3pm and went to buy feed for the dogs. I left two of the dogs roaming free because they were docile. I however, put Rover in a kennel because it was ferocious and had broken free severally.

"Some minutes after I went to the market, I received a call that my daughter had been ambushed by dogs. I ran back home and checked the compound without seeing anything. I searched the street as well without result. Later, somebody raised an alarm that she was at the backyard. There, I saw three dogs on my daughter, who still lay still."

He said he subdued the dogs with a stick and chased the away.

COMMENTS FROM RESIDENTS:
A resident said the alternate exit out of the house, through which Aliyah could have also escaped, had been shut permanently.

“Initially, we thought it was the child’s father that was beating her when she started crying for help. When we realized that the dogs were attacking her, we couldn’t do anything because there were many dogs at the main gate,” she said.

 

She added that the dogs bit Wasiu and a veterinary doctor who had also arrived at the scene.

A tenant, Wale Anjorin, said chaos broke out around 11pm when some hoodlums invaded the house with sticks and cutlass, threatening to burn down the house.

Anjorin, who claimed to have been with cutlass, said the men vadalised some property on the premises before killing Rover..

"They said the dog cannot live within the same neighbourhood with them. They had the intention of burning down a house and also smashed the windscreen of a  tricycle before finally mudering Rover." he said.

After the Comments from the Residents, it was brought to our notice that more than 10 dogs, consisting of different breeds, including Alsatian, Bullmastiff, Bulldog, were kept in two kennels near the main gate of the house.

Our correspondent was also shown a shallow grave where the slain dog was buried.

The residents urged the government to clear the dogs from their residential area, saying they constituted nuisance and threat to their lives.

A woman, who did not want to be identified said, "The landlord just returned to the UK six days ago. When he came, he asked them to take the dogs out because they had been infested with lice and ticks and he wanted to fumigate the house. But that is nt enough, we don't want dogs again."

The owner of the dogs, Alhaji Abdul-Akeem Sulaimon, said he could not take responsibility for the attack because he had handed the dogs over to the care taker(Wasiu).

A delegation from the Lagos State Office of the Public Defender, led by the Director, Mrs. Olubukola Salami, which visited the house and the hospital, said the state government would remove the dogs from the house to forestall a recurrence.

Salami said, “This is a shocking case enough to break the heart of even the most hardened person. If proper care is not taken, this girl could lose her life because of negligence and greed.  Proper safety measures were not followed and someone tried to cut corners in the feeding and maintenance of the dogs. It is not wise to leave children and dangerous dogs alone without close supervision as it has happened in this case.

“The Lagos State Government will look into extant laws on breeding dogs in residential areas with a view to evacuating those dogs and preventing such from happening again in the future. Regarding the young girl, we are looking on how to alleviate her pain and suffering.”

The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, said the case was not reported to the police.