A family friend has told of the horrifying moment two Rottweilers pounced on a sleeping five-week-old baby at a backyard barbecue and fatally mauled the child in front of the gathering.
Mia Jade Riley was in a bassinet next to a table of six to eight adults at her grandfather’s house in Moruya, on the NSW south coast, late on Saturday night, it has been reported by media.
Daily Mail Australia reports the dogs were sleeping about three metres away when “for no apparent reason” they viciously attacked the slumbering newborn about 10.30pm.
Police said the child was being watched by parents Lani and Tom Riley and other adults but somehow the dogs reached the baby without being noticed, The Daily Telegraph stated.
Mia’s frantic parents raced to save her from the grip of the canines as other shocked guests scrambled to help.
“Everyone there had to be involved to get the dogs off,” a family friend told Daily Mail Australia.
“There was a considerable amount of blood, it was terrible.
“There was just no warning.
“They were just having a family barbecue with the neighbours at the rear of the property and then they turned around the dogs were on her.
“There were no other kids, the dogs weren’t running around and no-one was provoking the dogs or anything. They weren’t agitated or distressed.
“It just happened out of nowhere.”
The same friend said the couple’s older daughter, 2, had been around the dogs without incident repeatedly since she was born.
“They have another child who has probably been in the same position or very similar,” he said.
“There’s never been an issue. It’s really horrible. It’s just beyond words.”
The badly injured baby was rushed to hospital in Moruya but died from head injuries shortly after midnight.
Days earlier Mia’s father, a chiropractor, had posted to the South Coast Spine Care’s Facebook page that he planned to work only four days a week to spend more time with his family.
The proud father had updated patients when Mia was born in January.
“Well, it was a good thing I blocked out work a week earlier than the due date because sure enough Monday night at 6.16pm my little girl was safely delivered at home surrounded by family,” Mr Riley posted.
“Mum and baby Mia Jade Riley are in perfect health,” he wrote.
“I will see you all when I return to work on the 30th Jan after some much needed family time surrounded by all my beautiful girls.”
Photos alongside the post showed intimate moments of Mia’s birth is what appeared to be a birthing tub, with mum holding the tiny infant in her arms as dad looked on.
The two Rottweilers were seized by Eurobodalla Shire Council.
NSW Police is investigating.
