A Stilfontein, North West white police officer told a community worker who was mauled by a pitbull while delivering medication to a patient, that she ‘was wrong to enter the yard’ .
Maria Diseko said she was mauled by a pitbull in July after the patient let her into the yard in spite of the fact that the vicious dog was not locked up.
After the 51-year-old mother escaped the dog by running out of the open gate, she went to the police to report the incident, but the police have still not charged the dog owner.
Diseko is now pleading with the police to do something because all she wants is justice, especially because now she is unable to use her right hand since the dog bit her.
“We normally take medication to patients; I had delivered to all of my patients, and the granny whose dog attacked me was the last patient of the day. When I arrived at the gate, I called out to her and told her that I had arrived; she came and told me that she was not feeling well, and that I must come into the yard; she would go and lock up the dog”.
Afterwards, Diseko gave the prescribed medication to the woman, but within seconds, a dog came racing up and grabbed her arm.
“I battled with the dog as the patient attempted to intervene; luckily, the gate opened and I escaped out of the yard. That saved my life,” she said.
She went to the police station and filed a report, but the authorities did not do anything to pursue her case, she said.
“I went to the police station and a white officer told me I was wrong to enter the yard, but I informed him I was not in the wrong because the patient instructed me to enter. I informed him that I want the dog’s owner arrested since she failed to protect me from the dog’s attack.”
Newsnote went to speak to the granny and at the gate there was an inscription – Caution: ‘Crazy, Hungry Dog’. Needless to say the interview was conducted outside the gate.
The granny’s daughter-in-law Louisa Trezman didn’t deny the pitbull attacked Diseko but said they have had the dog for eleven years and that it has never bitten anyone before.
“The dog was already inside when I heard Maria and my mother-in-law screaming. The garage was closed but not secured, so it forced the door open and attacked Maria when my mother-in-law gave her some old clothes,” she explained.
However, Trezman added that the pitbull died two months ago because of a brain tumour.
Approached for comment, the Stilfontein police said they have opened a case of negligently allowing or failing to prevent an animal from causing injury to another person.
The police said their investigation has been finalised and that the docket is currently with the director of public prosecutions in Mmabatho and they are awaiting a decision on the way forward.
