Little Oyintando Gxothelwa’s trip to a friend’s house turned into his worst nightmare when a vicious pit bull attacked him, ripping his lips apart.
The seven-year-old Oyintando, who lives in Daveyton, east of Johannesburg, was attacked by the pit bull last Sunday, a few houses away from his home.
Oyintando, a grade 1 pupil at Enkangala Primary School in Daveyton, became the latest victim of the recent spate of attacks by the breed on humans.
According to Fanele Sonti, 54, an eyewitness who lives on the same street as Oyintando, the incident happened around 5pm. Sonti said he had just come from fetching his grandchild from a friend’s place when he witnessed the attack.
“As I was leaving my friend’s place, that is when I saw the pit bull biting the child [Oyintando] on the face.
“It was jostling with his mouth and ripping it apart while the child lay on the ground. I quickly ran back to my friend’s place and told the people who were there to come with pipes so that we can beat the dog,” said Sonti.
“We came out with two pipes. This other man and I started hitting the dog all over its body so that it could release the child. While we were beating it the owner’s son had grabbed the dog’s mouth trying to remove its jaws from the child.”
He said they beat the pit bull with pipes for about seven minutes until it let go of Oyintando.
Sonti said the flesh on the left side of Oyintando’s face was ripped apart and blood was running all over his clothes and onto the ground.
In pictures that Sunday World has seen of Oyintando’s injuries, as he lay on a blanket, are obvious, his lower and upper lips were ripped off, along with a small part of his nose. A part of his lips lay on the ground after the attack.
Sonti said after the dog let go of Oyintando, the child was quickly put in a vehicle belonging to someone living on the same street and rushed to the local clinic.
“On our way to the clinic, we saw an ambulance in the area and called for the attention of the paramedics.
“I think they [paramedics] had just stopped to buy food or something. We asked them to take the child to the hospital and they did,” said Sonti.
He said Oyintando was rushed to the Far East Rand Hospital in Springs, east of Johannesburg.
Sonti said Oyintando was later transferred to Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, where he is receiving medical attention.
Sonti , who was shocked by the incident, said later on Sunday he saw an official from the SPCA going to the owner’s home and loading the two pit bulls into a van.
“I am traumatised. It [the attack] was bad. I do not know how the dog came out of the [owner’s] house. There needs to be more education about these dogs.”
Sonti said the pit bull, which was put down by the SPCA after the attack, was owned by a family of four that lives on the same street. The family owned two pit bulls. The other dog was euthanised as well.
Another eyewitness who spoke to Sunday World on condition of anonymity said during the attack Oyintando lay helpless.
“He was not screaming or crying. He could not even speak. He only started crying after the dog was removed from him,” she said.
Another eyewitness who did not want to be named said: “I am shocked. I felt like I was dreaming when I saw the attack. You see such things on social media of a lion attacking a person but not a dog,” she said.
When Sunday World visited the home of the pit bull owner this week, the sliding steel gate was closed and locked. No one could be seen in the yard but one of the windows was open.
Sunday World reporters shouted from outside the home to get the attention of the owner but there was no response. Knocking on the gate to get the attention of the people in the home received no response and no one came out.
A neighbour living opposite the home told Sunday World the homeowners were not in the house and were apparently at work.
The house has three cameras facing the street where the incident happened and a “Beware of the Dog” sign mounted on the house.
Benoni SPCA inspector Thomas Mohlake confirmed that the two pit bulls were taken from the owner last week Sunday night, after the owner handed them over.
Mohlake said the pit bulls were put down.
He said the pit bull involved in the attack was vicious and aggressive when it was loaded into the vehicle.
“I had to use a catch pole to get hold of it and load it into the vehicle.
“Members of the community were furious about the incident because a child had just been bitten. So I had to take them away and thereafter they were humanly euthanised,” said Mohlake.
Gauteng police spokesperson Lt-Col Mavela Masondo said a case has been opened at the Daveyton police station.
“A case of failure to lock up a vicious dog has been opened. No arrest has been made yet and the investigation is still underway,” said Masondo.
Oyintando’s mother, Nolubabalo Gxothelwa, 37, said her child underwent an operation on Monday and was recovering well at the hospital.
“The operation was successful. He is able to speak and on Thursday police took his statement. He is due for another operation sometime next week. He is able to drink juice through his mouth and other liquids that the doctors are giving him.
The doctors said he cannot eat foods in the meantime because that might compromise the stiches on his lips,” said Gxothelwa.
Gxothelwa said after the second operation the doctors will advise the family when Oyintando can start eating again.
