Witness weeps as she tells court of saving girl from rottweilers

A WOMAN broke down on the witness stand as she told of the moment she saved a ten-year-old girl from the jaws of three rottweilers.

Irene Grady, 57, begged not to be shown photographs of the child’s extensive injuries, which included a broken jaw and an 8cm “gaping” wound to a thigh, as she gave evidence at the trial of a man and a woman charged with failing to keep the dogs under control.

Sarah Kerr, 34, is accused of being in charge of the animals, named Fat Boy, Pretty Girl and Rocky, when they are said to have attacked the child, now 11, leaving her severely injured and permanently disfigured.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Her former partner, Derek Adam, 39, is alleged to have been the owner of the rott- weilers when the attack was said to have occurred on 29 August last year.

Under questioning from depute fiscal Paul Kernode yesterday, Mrs Grady told Dundee Sheriff Court that she had seen the child from her living room window in Dryburgh Street, Dundee, “smiling down” at one of the dogs as she cycled along the street.

She said: “I didn’t like the look of [the dogs], so I shouted at her to keep pedalling. I felt like I just blinked and then the three of them were around her. There were two big rottweilers and a puppy.”

The girl had just started pedalling when one of the dogs jumped up and grabbed her by the arm, Mrs Grady continued.

“I started running down the street. She was on the ground and she was screaming. I was shouting ‘no’. When I got to her, they just moved away.”

Sheriff Richard Davidson allowed Mrs Grady a few moments to compose herself, before she was confronted with pictures of the child’s injuries.

Mrs Grady said the dogs pursued her as she took the child into her house, and she felt their breath on her back.

She said: “I was just in shock. I was trying to keep focused, but the two of us just flopped on the sofa. She wouldn’t let me go. I thought her arm was hanging off. There was blood all over her face, and big tooth marks on her throat.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Mrs Grady said that para- medics arrived shortly after and the child was rushed to Ninewells Hospital.

Her grand-daughter, Sheridan Grady, 17, also broke down while giving evidence.

Miss Grady had been staying at her grandmother’s house and had helped tend to the girl before the ambulance arrived.

She said: “[The girl] was covered in blood, from head to toe. Her clothes were shredded up her arm and up her leg.”

Miss Grady added that she had seen the dogs within the home Miss Kerr had once shared with Mr Adam, and that they had “frightened” her.

The court also heard from Adam’s father, Derek snr, who claimed the latch on the gate at the property had been broken on the day in question.

Fat Boy, Pretty Girl and Rocky were destroyed at kennels belonging to Dundee City Council on 30 August, 2010.

Kerr, whose address was given as care of a Dundee solicitors’ office, denies being in charge of the three rottweilers whereby they were dangerously out of control .

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Adam, 39, of Lintrathen Street, Dundee, denies being the owner of the dogs at the time, as well as failing to comply with a control order made in March 2010 on two of the dogs.

The trial continues.

Related topics: