The family of a young boy who was brutally mauled by a pitbull have told how they haven’t seen his heartbroken mum “without tears in her eyes” since the horror incident.
Alejandro Mizsan, nine, remained in Crumlin Children’s Hospital – where he is expected to stay for at least a month – yesterday after undergoing two surgeries as relatives sat by his bedside. Alejandro was playing on a green area of the Old Forge Road estate in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, on Sunday when he was attacked at around 4pm.
His extensive injuries saw his bottom lip and each of his cheeks torn off, with extensive damage near his left eye as well as serious leg injuries. His parents – dad Ion Florin and mum Otilia – were at their home yesterday ahead of travelling back to Dublin.
Read more: Boy, 9, 'will never be the same again' following horrific pitbull attack
The couple, originally from Romania, got their eldest son to speak on their behalf as they have limited English. Raul, 21, told the Irish Mirror: “My mother is always crying.
“Since it happened, I haven’t seen her without tears in her eyes. She’s in a very bad depression at the moment. My dad is just in bits, and everybody is, all of our family.” Neighbour Jacinta Kennedy was driving out of the estate with her teenage sons, CJ and Adam, as they came upon the incident and intervened as did another man with a stick.
Jacinta told the Irish Mirror: “As we pulled around the corner, we could see the dog on the child’s face. A man came running with a big stick. He was beating the dog. But my son CJ, he was on the phone to the ambulance straight away.
“Adam was trying to chase the dog off after the man hit the dog with the stick. And I just got the child up off the ground. I put my jumper over his little face because it was absolutely horrendous. His face was disfigured. He was trying to talk but the wounds on his face were very uncomfortable.”
Jacinta’s eight-year-old son Max was playing out the front of her home. In fear that the crazed animal might target her young lad, she ran back to her house to make sure he went back inside.
In the meantime, her older sons had helped Alejandro back to his house. She said: “Then we placed him on the couch in his home. His mother was hysterical, their whole life after going down around them like. The ambulance was there very quickly then.”
Alejandro was rushed to the nearby GAA grounds, where the Irish Coast Guard’s Rescue 117 helicopter airlifted him to Crumlin Children’s Hospital, undergoing surgery that night and again on Monday. The unmuzzled pitbull had been roaming the estate before the attack and was later put down.
The Irish Mirror have confirmed that gardai are in contact with its owner who is assisting the investigation. Sources last night told us that the probe is “progressing” well and will seek to determine whether the breed of dog should have been muzzled by law.
Yesterday, investigators called to houses which had CCTV on their property and downloaded footage. American pitbulls, along with 10 other breeds, are on a restricted list of breeds in Irish law. This means they need to be muzzled in public and can only be led on a lead by people over the age of 16.
Raul said yesterday his sibling was only opening his eyes for a few seconds before going back to sleep again. The trauma is compounded with financial worry as young Alejandro will have to go abroad for surgery in future which they expect to be very expensive.
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Raul said: “He can’t talk, I don’t know if he will be able to talk normally again. We don’t know what the future holds. But we are struggling financially and we know that he will have to undergo more surgery in future which will be very expensive. We just need as much help as possible. He will have to go abroad at some stage and the cost is very high.”
Alejandro’s neighbours have begun a GoFundMe which had raised more than €30,000 by last night. Raul added: “I just want to say thank you to everybody that helped my brother for the donations and all the prayers. We are so grateful.”
Meanwhile, a man was arrested yesterday. A Garda spokesman said: “As a result of an investigation into subsequent related matters, a man was arrested on the morning of Tuesday, 29th November, 2022 under the provisions of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997. He is currently being detained at Enniscorthy Garda Station under the provisions of Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act, 1984. Investigations are ongoing.”
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