Baby girl died after she was attacked by jealous dog that dragged her from bed and inflicted horror head injuries
A BABY girl died after being attacked by a terrier cross-bred dog that dragged her from her bed and inflicted horrendous head injuries that led to her death, an inquest heard.
Tragic infant Mia O’Connell was found on the floor in her bedroom by her aunt with blood pouring from deep head lacerations, and with the dog standing over her with blood on its mouth.
Emily Woods, the older sister of mum Ella was staying overnight with her six-year old-son when tragedy struck.
Mia had been put to bed in her Moses basket by Ella and had settled very quickly.
She went downstairs to chat with Emily and grandmother Noreen, safe in the knowledge she could hear the child because the house was small.
Emily went up check on her son and then Ella recalled: “She screamed my name.
“I had never heard her scream like that. I ran up the stairs and when I got to the landing I saw Emily holding Mia.
“She screamed ‘it was the dog, it was the dog’.
“I looked and saw the dog on the landing and his face was covered in blood. It was disgusting.”
Ella, who was too upset to attend the inquest, said in a statement she felt uncomfortable from the day the terrier arrived in their home in Clashmore, Co Waterford.
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She said in 2021, the dog was rescued by the husband of the baby’s grandmother, Barry Dillon.
Ella admitted: “I did not know what kind of breed it was. It was small, ugly and brown or red in colour. Barry called it Red.
“I did not like this dog from the beginning, there was something about it.
“It seemed very anxious and shaking. It lived outside and was not allowed into the house.
“I felt uncomfortable with that dog and a baby in the house”.
Emily said when she went into the room, she saw the Moses basket on the floor overturned.
Then she told how she saw Mia lying in the middle of the room with the dog standing over her.
She explained: “Mia was in the middle of the room and the dog Red was behind her. He was just standing over her. There was blood all over his mouth.
“Mia was lying on her back. I grabbed a muslin cloth from the bed and put it to her head to try and stop the bleeding.”
'I HATED THAT DOG'
The baby, who was born early, weighed just 4lbs 9ozs at the time of birth.
She was brought home after a two week stay in hospital.
Paramedics worked to stabilise the baby in the ambulance before she was rushed to Cork University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly after arriving there.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster said the autopsy showed Mia died from severe brain trauma due to fractures of the skull, and multiple lacerations to the head consistent with a dog attack.
Mia’s dad Rhys O’Connell asked if his baby would have suffered but Dr Bolster said she would have lost consciousness very quickly.
The inquest heard that the rescue dog was unwanted by it’s owners because it wouldn’t hunt, something the family said they were not made aware of at the time Mr Dillon rescued it.
Grandmother Noreen O’Connell said once the dog snapped at Mia, she wanted her husband to get rid of it.
She confessed: “I hated that dog”.
Cork City Coroner Philip Comyn warned about the dangers dogs can pose to children, even family pets like the Dachshund/terrier Red that killed the three month old baby on June 6, 2021.
There had been an indication that the dog, which was only with the family a few months, was jealous.
He snapped at the baby shortly after she came home from hospital while her grandmother was holding her in her arms.
Mr Comyn said he was recording a verdict of misadventure after being told about this incident.
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He said: “This is a particularly tragic death involving a family pet. At the end of the day dogs are animals and can be unpredictable especially when their place in a family is displaced, as in this case by Baby Mia."
The dog was put to sleep following the attack.
