The mum of Jack Lis - the 10-year-old mauled to death by a dog - has said life remains for her a 'living hell'. Emma Whitfield was being interviewed on ITV's Wales at Six more than a year on from her son's death and called for tougher sentencing for owners of dangerous dogs that hurt people
She said: “There’s no words for how much I miss him- there’s no measurement because he was my life and that’s gone, he’s gone.” She added: “If there’s something that describes being beyond angry, I’m probably there. I just don’t understand how it came to this.”
On November 8, 2021, Jack had gone out to play in Penyrheol, Caerphilly, when he was invited to see a dog when no adults were present. Jack suffered catastrophic injuries after being attacked by the XL bully called Beast. You can read the full story of what happened here.
Emma told ITV she wanted to speak out after another dog attack happened this week, just streets away from where Jack died. Three people have been arrested on suspicion of being in charge of a dog dangerously out of control and bailed as police continue to investigate the attack which left an 83-year-old woman in hospital with life-threatening injuries. You can read more about that here.
READ MORE: Woman suffers life-threatening injuries after dog attack
Brandon Hayden, the owner of the dog that attacked and killed Jack Lis, who was then aged 19, and Amy Salter, then 29, pleaded guilty to being in charge of a dangerously out of control dog which caused severe injuries to Jack's head and neck. Hayden was sentenced to four years and six months detention in a young offenders' institute and Salter was sentenced to three years imprisonment. Both were disqualified from owning or keeping a dog indefinitely.
But Emma felt very strongly that they had no remorse “in the slightest”. She added: “To this day I have not received an apology. I’ve not even got a hint that they have any kind of remorse, even down to the day they were sentenced - in the dock blowing kisses and winking, where's the remorse there? How could he be smiling while I’m sat watching what he has done, listening to what he had done. They don't seem to be the slightest bit sorry.”
Since Jack’s death, the UK Government has said it has launched a responsible dog ownership group to see how it can reduce the number of dog attacks each year. But Emma said she wanted longer sentences for Salter and Hayden. “I was expecting more - nothing they would have got would be enough but this was an insult,” she said. She stressed that there wasn’t a “blanket approach” but that the crime against her son needed to be taken more seriously.
She added: “He’s in prison for a year and a half or two years if he’s released early and he gets to come back out and keep living his life. But mine - I don’t have one anymore.”
Jack was described as a well liked, kind, and popular pupil, and Emma said she wanted him to be remembered for “his big smile and his teeth - that’s my Jack.”
“He’d just sit next to you and cuddle you.” She described it as “horrible” not having that anymore. She added: “I’ve got photos on my phone of him sitting on the chair and being there with the cats and now I look at that chair and he’s not there, with the cats. I don’t think that’s ever something I’ll get my head around.”
Sharing the devastating loss, she said: “I can’t wake him up for school anymore, I can’t wash his clothes anymore - I don’t know how I keep going.”
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