A woman has been charged after a three-year-old girl was horrifically mauled by a cockapoo outside a Kent primary school, leaving her with such severe injuries her father had to ‘hold her skin together’.
Bunnie was walking home with her father, Rowen Skinley, and two siblings on Tuesday when the designer crossbreed launched the attack outside Miers Court Primary School in Rainham, Kent last week on Tuesday.
The cockapoo, a mix of Cocker Spaniel and Poodle, bit Bunnie without warning, tearing open her arm.
She was rushed to a London hospital for emergency plastic surgery, and she has since been discharged.
Officers from Kent Police made an arrest on Monday and now have confirmed that Tracie Inkpen, 50, was charged the same day with being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control, causing injury.
The dog was also seized.
She has been bailed to appear before Medway Magistrates’ Court at a later date.
As previously reported, the owner of the small, sandy-coloured pooch left leaving no details, after pulling the dog off the toddler and tearing her skin in doing so, Mr Skinley said.
The father explained: ‘I was so shocked. All I had to stop the bleeding was my hands. I had to basically hold her skin together.’
Thankfully, he continued: ‘She’s doing well now. She’s just a bit shaken and keeps talking about how scared she is of the dog…
‘It’s really upsetting that the woman didn’t stop because it makes you fear for the safety of other kids.’
Cockapoos have often been touted as family-friendly bundles of cuteness – playful, warm, curly-haired teddy bears, who are easy to manage and train.
But Mr Skinley had a rather different experience with the popular breed: ‘It happened parallel to the school on the main road. I was just walking home after the school run.
‘The path is quite narrow, and a woman was walking her dog on the actual road itself.
‘Then, out of nowhere, the dog just lunged for my daughter and pulled her to the floor.’
Bystanders rushed over to help: ‘People who saw what happened came over and said that my daughter hadn’t even put her hand out to the dog.’
Bunnie was taken to Medway Maritime Hospital in nearby Gillingham before being transferred to St Thomas’ Hospital in Westminster, London, the next morning.
There, she had several X-rays to ensure the puncture had not hit her bone before undergoing the reconstructive surgery.
Mr Skinley explained: ‘She also has a lung condition and really bad asthma so she had to be marked down as a high-risk category for sedation.’
Anyone with information that could assist officers’ inquiries, including CCTV or doorbell footage, should contact police on 01634 792209, quoting 46/102876/25.
