A mother who woke to find her five-week-old son had been snatched from her arms and killed by the family’s American Staffordshire terrier cried out to her husband: ‘The dog’s got the baby.’
The harrowing scene was recounted on Monday at the NSW Coroner’s Court in Sydney’s west, where an inquest is being held into seven fatal dog attacks which occurred between 2019 and 2021.
Coroner Carmel Forbes is investigating the circumstances of the attacks, including the breeds of the animals involved as well as the responses of councils and regulatory bodies to such incidents.
The first death being considered resulted from an attack on a five-week-old boy in regional NSW in 2021.
A mother who woke to find her five-week-old son had been killed by the family’s American Staffordshire terrier cried out to her husband ‘the dog’s got the baby’. Stock image of an American Staffordshire terrier
Court orders prevent the publication of the victim’s name or any information which might identify his parents.
Counsel assisting the coroner, David Kell SC, told the court that the baby’s father had owned a six-year-old dog he believed to be an American Staffordshire terrier.
He had bought the dog as a pup for $500 in June 2015 after it was advertised as one of a litter of seven of that breed.
The dog had been microchipped and registered as an American Staffordshire terrier but the court heard there were suggestions it was at least part American pit bull.
In June 2021, five weeks before the infant boy was killed, the dog was responsible for the death of a cocker spaniel on a neighouring property.
There were no witnesses to that incident but Dr Kell said a ranger who responded to the attack suspected the staffy had pulled the cocker spaniel through a hole in a fence and killed it in the backyard.
The ranger also believed the staffy might have been a pit bull, or pit bull-cross, based on its yellow eyes, liver-coloured nose and white tips on its paws.
An inquest into seven fatal dog attacks which occurred in NSW between 2019 and 2021 is being held at the NSW Coroner’s Court in Sydney’s west (above)
The parents, who were considered ‘wonderful tenants’ by their landlord, were not at home at the time as the mother had given birth to their first child just days earlier.
The tan dog, which slept in the family’s master bedroom, had no previous record of having attacked other animals or humans.
The council ranger told the court the mother’s mother had described the pet as ‘a people dog’.
‘I took that to mean he wasn’t very good with other dogs,’ she said.
Based on suspicions the staffy was at least part pit bull, its owner was issued with a notice to declare it a restricted dog.
Such a declaration would mean the dog had to be kept in a secure enclosure and muzzled on a leash, chain or cord when it was outside that cage.
The owner was given 28 days to prove the animal was not a restricted breed and was granted a two-week extension after the birth of the boy.
Five weeks after the cocker spaniel’s death, the father and mother were watching football and listening to music in their home.
Coroner Carmel Forbes will examine issues including how the breed of dogs is determined and how that influences restrictions upon their ownership. Stock image of American Staffordshire terrier
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The father fell asleep on the lounge and the exhausted young mother dozed off in a rocking chair while holding the baby in her arms.
The father later told police he woke to find his partner in tears and crying out, ‘The dog’s got the baby’.
[‘She’s] woken up and realised the baby’s not there,’ he said. ‘She walked in and found the baby on the floor in the baby’s bedroom.’
The mother had told the father: ‘Call the ambulance, call the ambulance’.
Paramedics arrived but could not resuscitate the boy, who had suffered multiple puncture wounds.
Police saw the dog in the backyard with blood on its snout. It appeared the dog had snatched the baby out of the chair.
When asked if the family had ever had any issues with the dog the mother told police she had been ‘on alert’ since bringing her newborn son home from hospital.
‘I don’t trust the dog around him,’ she said.
The dog was euthanised and the boy’s cause of death found to be from chest trauma consistent with a dog attack.
A death certificate for the dog listed it as a pit bull but that was amended the following day to American Staffordshire terrier after information was received from the local council.
The ranger told the court she had not considered seizing the dog after it killed the cocker spaniel.
‘I wasn’t dealing with irresponsible dog owners,’ she said.
The ranger also said she had seen little difference between American Staffordshire terriers and pit bulls in their propensity to attack, or the severity of the injuries they could inflict.
Ms Forbes will examine issues including how the breed of dogs is determined and how that influences restrictions upon their ownership.
Dr Kell stressed the object of the inquiry was not to attribute legal liability for any of the deaths but to prevent further similar tragedies occurring.
NSW legislation did not define how to distinguish a pit bull from similar dogs, whereas Victoria had gazetted the physical features of pit bulls.
He said questions would arise about the identifying whether a dog belonged to a restricted breed
The inquest continues.