Durban - A RETIRED waiter is recovering after a piece of his ear was bitten off when two pit bulls attacked him.
Ronnie Madurai, 63, of Clayfield, Phoenix, travelled by taxi to his daughter’s home in Unit 13 last Sunday.
He was attacked by the dogs soon after getting out of the taxi.
His daughter, Sashnee Madurai, said her father was walking towards her home when the dogs came out of a neighbour’s yard through an unlocked gate and charged towards him.
“I was inside my home and I didn’t know what was going on. A neighbour, who brought my dad to my home after the attack, told me that the dogs jumped on him and he fell.”
Madurai said the dogs dragged her dad by his jacket to the entrance of the yard.
“My father was shouting for help and he tried to push and kick off the dogs.
“They bit him on his head, chunks of flesh from his arms were bitten off and a piece of his ear.”
She said a resident, Nirodh Sukhnandan, tried to get the dogs away from her dad and he was bitten on his arm.
“Another resident tried to hit the dogs with a baton but one of the dogs bit him in the stomach.
“Other residents came to assist and the dogs backed down.”
Madurai said her father was unconscious and a neighbour managed to get him to her home.
“He was covered in blood. When he regained consciousness, he was unable to speak. I took him to the hospital for treatment.”
She said he had been admitted to hospital for three days.
“He was given stitches on his head, arms and ear.”
Madurai said she reported the incident to the police and they allegedly told her that the dogs would be removed by the SPCA.
She said her father could have died.
“I want justice. I want the dogs put down.”
She said her dad and her neighbours were still recovering from their injuries.
The dogs’ owner, Trevin Moonsamy, said his pets were sent to an animal rehabilitation centre a day after the attack.
“The dogs are no longer with us.
“We have sent them to a rehabilitation centre. I’m not sure if they will be returned.”
Captain Nqobile Gwala, a police spokesperson, said a case of keeping ferocious dogs had been opened.
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