Child mauled

Visibly shaken and emotional, Ciara McAllister went on to appeal for signs to be put up in schools and other public areas giving advice on how to behave and what to do if people spotted pit bulls and pit bull-type dogs wandering free in open spaces.

Speaking about how she witnessed the horrific attack on her daughter, Danielle, outside their home just off Trench Road, Ms McAllister broke down as she related how she thought her daughter was very brave, because the schoolgirl's only concern was for her - Ciara is seven months pregnant.

The trauma began just after 4pm, when she heard her daughter screaming.

She said yesterday: "I heard the screams. I had just come in from work and she is normally collected from school and she comes down to my work and walks home with me. But yesterday she rang at 3.30pm and asked could she walk down herself from her granny's, and I said OK

"I was in the living room and within two minutes I heard this screaming outside and I thought it was Danielle. My neighbour has two wee dogs, that are pups, and I thought they were round her feet and she was squealing, but the screaming continued and I ran out and I seen these two dogs on either side of her pulling her. Her school bag was on the ground, her coat was on the ground, and Danielle was screaming 'Mummy, mummy!' and I shouted, and my neighbour Olivia came out and I just knew by her face and when she started screaming for her mother Agnes.

"I went in and got a brush and all the neighbours came out and the dogs had to be physically beaten off her because they just weren't letting her go," Ms McAllister said.

Thanking her neighbours for their prompt actions, she said they had all been "just brilliant".

"If it wasn't for my neighbours then I don't know...because I was no good. I couldn't have pulled the dogs off. I think it was a blessing that it happened on the doorstep because if it had have happened on the street nobody would have heard her. Those dogs were not for letting her go."

Asked how she felt when she opened the front door and was confronted with the scene, Ms McAllister said: "It was just initial shock. I just could not believe what I seen. Danielle was just lying there helpless."

Bursting into tears as she recalled the scene, she went on: "I'm alright, I've been like this all day. It's just the shock and thinking what might have happened. It was terrible seeing her and seeing that the dogs just wouldn't let her go. The dogs had one arm each and she was being pulled. They had her on the ground and when she got up her face was scraped. The neighbours were all out with brushes and brooms to get the dogs off. Ellen lifted Danielle off the ground and brought her into the house, and someone contained one of the dogs in the back garden, and another neighbour went after the other dog and the police came after that and it was just chaos."

Ms McAllister accompanied her daughter in an ambulance to hospital where they spent six hours. Danielle had to return there yesterday, having been sent home with antibiotics. The medical staff were forced to tidy the deep wound on the little girl's arm on Monday but could not stitch it in case infection set in. Danielle also suffered bites and scrapes, as well as bruising to her body and legs as a result of the attack.

Ms McAllister said from what she had learned afterwards, it appeared that the dogs had been in her front yard and had come from the direction of her car in the drive. She said she felt angry that dogs of this type were allowed to wander off lead.

"I am angry that they were able to get out and wander round. We are so close to schools and playgroups and if this had happened to a smaller child, and there are smaller children on either side of me, they would never have got up again. You should see Danielle. It is just a miracle she got up. Her face - there are two marks and I don't know if they are teeth or claws, she said one of the dogs was trying to go for her face the whole time. She has bites on her lower half of her body, her back and her legs are all scratched by the dog. She is scratched on the face and she has an horrendous gash across her arm.

"We have to go back to the hospital again because across her arm has been ripped open. Yesterday they didn't stitch it because they were afraid of infection setting in, so they kept it open, so she had had antibiotics and painkillers and she has to go back tomorrow (Wednesday] to get an anaesthetic to get it all cleaned out and, hopefully, stitched. We were in the hospital for six hours and they gave her gas and air for the pain. The paramedic said her jumper saved her arm. It is all holes where the dog had it."

Praising her daughter's bravery, she said: "Poor Danielle, she was more concerned about me being upset. She went through all that and she was like 'Don't be phoning my granny, she'll be all upset and I don't want you getting upset mummy'. That's what kills me, that she was so good and she didn't want me upset because of the baby."

Ms McAllister said 'pit bull-type' dogs needed to be muzzled and on a lead in public and she appealed for information to be displayed in public places and schools with information on what to do if a straying dog of this type was encountered.

"Danielle didn't provoke those dogs in any way, they weren't tempted. I want people who have these type of dogs to have the sense to control them, and for people to ring the dog warden if they see this type of dog out on the street wandering. I am appealing for signs to be put up, in schools and public places like parks, telling people what to do and who to phone if they see these type of dogs," she said.

A spokesperson for Derry City Council said: "The matter remains under investigation with arrangements in place to take statements from the victim's family and the dog owner."