Mother, 31, who was horrifically mauled by powerful bully XL dog while walking her daughter in a pushchair reveals how she CAN’T claim compensation… because the vicious animal is ‘owned by a minor’
- Katie Deere, 31, needed a partial amputation of her finger after the dog attack
- ***WARNING – GRAPHIC CONTENT***
A mother has told how she suffered shocking injuries in an horrific mauling by a powerful dog while walking with her daughter in a pushchair, but can’t claim compensation because the animal is ‘owned by a minor.’
Teaching assistant Katie Deere, 31, was also with her own dog when she was suddenly set upon by an unsupervised bully XL breed.
Miss Deere had already picked up her own dog out of concern for the loose aggressor, which ran across the road and clamped its jaws on her arm.
The quick-thinking single mother pushed the pushchair towards a passer-by who stopped to help and her own dog ran away.
But she was left at the mercy of the bully XL. Thankfully a lorry driver who witnessed the attack stopped and bravely intervened – pulling the dog off her and calling for an ambulance.
Teaching assistant Katie Deere, 31, was also with her own dog when she was suddenly set upon by an unsupervised bully XL breed
Miss Deere had already picked up her own dog out of concern for the loose aggressor, which ran across the road and clamped its jaws on her arm
She was rushed to hospital by ambulance, bleeding from wounds to both arms.
The traumatised victim later underwent five hours of surgery on her arms, including 50 stitches and repair to a finger that was partially amputated.
She is now recovering with relatives and an aunt who has set up an online fundraising appeal said they had discovered Miss Deere is ‘not entitled to any sort of compensation or government help as the dog was uninsured and owned by a minor.’
Dog-bite compensation rules
If you are attacked by a dog, you can make a claim so long as the attack happened in the last three years.
You also need to be able to prove you were inured, and that these injuries came from the dog attack.
Pet insurance is not compulsory and without it, compensation can very hard to win.
According to Cohen Cramer solicitors: ‘If no insurance is in place then it can be very difficult to pursue a claim.
You may have a valid claim in liability but if there is no insurance in place and the chances of actually recovering compensation are very slim’.
The incident happened at 11am on 17 August in Askern, near Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
She told Yorkshire Live: ‘I can remember seeing the dog running towards me, truthfully I was absolutely petrified, I love dogs, but I could see it was coming for me and it just looked so angry.
‘Some things are really clear and some things really aren’t, I don’t know if that is my way of blocking out the trauma. I can remember saying to the woman at the side of the road “please don’t let me die I have a daughter.”
‘The bully XL jumped up at me and latched on to my arm and latched on to it, my dog jumped from my arms and ran away.
‘I pushed my daughter in her pram towards somebody who had come over to try and help, which I knew carried a risk in itself but it was somebody I recognised from the local area and in that moment it felt like the safest thing to do.
‘As much as I knew I was in danger I just wanted my daughter out of the way, I knew my mum and dad would be called and she would be ok.
‘I can just remember the most horrific and intense pain, everyone says child labour is the worst pain, but it’s not. I wouldn’t wish the pain on anybody.’
She said the lorry driver, known only as Stephen, may have saved her life she was bleeding so badly.
‘The lorry driver that saved me said there was so much blood dripping from my arm, he said he didn’t know if I was going to survive or not,’ she said.
Miss Deere is now being looked after by her mother as she has both her arms in a pot and needs help dressing and eating.
She doesn’t know if there will be any long-term nerve damage, but there will be physical and mental scars remaining.
She added: ‘It’s changed me massively as a person I was so confident and now I am so anxious I can’t go anywhere without my mum or dad without getting overwhelmed and ending up in tears because it’s just all too much.
‘I’m petrified of having to take my own dog out now, even when I am better, how will I ever feel safe again taking my daughter and my dog out now? It’s unfair that I feel I shouldn’t be able to go out and walk my dog and have my daughter in the pushchair.’
She was rushed to hospital by ambulance, bleeding from wounds to both arms
The dog was seized by armed police and later destroyed. She said: ‘I am an animal lover and I don’t wish for any animal to be destroyed but if that would have been a child, God forbid my daughter, they would have been killed.’
Aunt Jayne Redfern has set up a fundraiser for the single mother. She said her niece was due to start a new job this month but that is now in doubt, and she faces twice weekly trips to hospital.
A South Yorkshire Police spokesman said after the incident that the dog was believed to be a bully XL breed.
In June South Yorkshire Police called for them to be added to the list of banned breeds after a sharp rise in the number of attacks.
It said officers had already dealt with 180 reports of out-of-control dogs in 2023 – more than double the number for the whole of 2018.
South Yorkshire Police added that ‘enquiries are ongoing.’
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