The family of a baby girl pulled from her Moses basket and killed by a dog said their "hearts are broken forever".
Mia O'Connell was killed at four months old by the terrier Dachshund cross who was found standing alongside the baby with blood on its mouth, an inquest heard.
Parents Ella Wood and her partner Rhys O'Connell had got engaged the previous New Year's Eve and Mia was born in February 2021, when she had to remain in hospital for over two weeks because after she was born as she was premature and weighed just 4lbs 9 oz.
Cork Coroner's Court heard that the couple, from Waterford, Ireland, were deeply in love and "ecstatic" at the birth of Mia.
In a statement read out at Cork Coroner's Court, Ella said that Mia was "a good little baby" who was in a routine of being bottle fed every four hours or so. She not only had the love of her parents but was also adored by her grandparents with whom she also lived.
Ella's sister, Emily, was visiting the house in Saint Mochua's Terrace in Clashmore on June 6, 2021 when the tragedy unfolded. Mia was teething and had been been put to bed.
During the course of the evening Emily went to check on her six year old son Jayden who was also visiting the property and had gone to bed.. She said she also popped in to the room where Mia had been put to sleep in her Moses basket.
Emily was shocked to find the family rescue dog 'Red', who was a terrier Dachshund cross, standing over the baby who was lying on the bedroom floor.
"I could see Mia on the ground in the middle of the room, between the bed and the Moses basket. The dog was just standing behind her as he had already done it. There was blood all over the dog's mouth," she said.
"My first reaction was to scream out for Ella. I picked Mia up straight away. There was a pink and white muslin cloth on the single bed that I grabbed straight away and put it to the back of the head to stop the bleeding.
"Mia was wearing a vest and a a babygro when I found her. I can't remember seeing any tears or rips on her clothes. I just remember the blood on her head and on the floor.
"When we brought Mia down to Noreen (her grandmother), Noreen started putting pressure on Mia's head and giving her CPR. We kept ringing and ringing 999 and telling them to hurry hurry up as the child was bleeding from the head."
The Irish Mirror reports that Gardai and paramedics arrived at the scene shortly after 1am and Mia was transported by ambulance to hospital. She had received CPR at the property from her grandmother, Noreen, who works in the caring profession and also from paramedics.
Ella, the mother of the child, told gardai that Emily had gone to check on the children when she heard her older sister scream her name.
"I had never heard her scream like that before. I went flying up the stairs. When I got upstairs I could see Emily on the landing. Emily was holding my baby, my Mia in her arms," Ella said.
"I could see blood down one side of Mia's face, on the back of her head and on her clothes. I could not fully see the back of Mia's head as Emily was holding a muslin cloth to her head.
"Emily said 'it was the dog, it was the dog'. I could see the dog's face was covered in blood. Noreen (O'Connell the grandmother of Mia) started doing CPR. Mia was still bleeding. I was in shock. I froze. "
She said she did not like the animal "from the beginning. There was just something about it."
She addded: "It was not a tall dog. Just past my ankle. I love dogs and animals but I did not like this dog from the beginning. It wasn’t allowed inside but if a door was open it would try to come in and someone would shoo it out. I always felt uncomfortable with the dog and the baby in the house."
The inquest also heard from Noreen O'Connell who is the mother of Rhys O'Connell and the grandmother of Mia.
Ms O'Connell said that Ella and her son Rhys had got engaged on New Year's Eve 2020 with the couple having lived with her and her husband Barry for two and a half years. She had gone to her work in a nursing home and arrived home at around nine o clock on the night that Mia died.
She said that her husband had re homed the dog who was called 'Red'. She wasn't comfortable with the dog as Red had tried to snap at Mia when she came home from hospital. She said that she "hated the dog" and had had "big concerns" about it but that her husband had insisted it be kept.
The dog was kept outside the house and slept in a kennel in an alley by the side of the property. If it managed to get in it was immediately sent back out.
Mr O'Connell asked if Mia would have experienced pain. She replied that Mia would have been rendered unconscious very quickly.
She said: "So she wouldn't have felt anything."
Dr Bolster said that Mia died of a traumatic brain injury with haemorrhage and shock from scalp lacerations consistent with an animal attack.
