A vulnerable Scots woman was left lying bleeding in the street after being attacked by an out-of-control German Shepherd despite begging the animal’s owner for help. Stephanie McGeough, who suffers from Addison’s Disease, was walking to her Clydebank home when the vicious dog lunged at her arm before sinking its teeth into her limb on March 11, 2021.
The 34-year-old told how she lost a chunk of flesh after ripping her arm out of the animal’s powerful jaws before having to fend off a second attack as its owner held onto its lead. Stephanie slumped to the ground and feared losing consciousness as she felt herself going into an adrenal crisis - which can be fatal without an emergency injection of hydrocortisone.
A driving instructor who was nearby heard Stephanie's screams and raced to help her before she was taken to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital for treatment to her injuries. Stephanie, who now suffers from PTSD, has blasted the justice system after learning that the animal's owner, Robert O'Donnell, 75, escaped with a fine when sentenced at Dumbarton Sheriff Court this week.
The dog has also been placed on the Index of Exempted Dogs meaning it must be kept muzzled and on a lead of 6ft or less when in a public place.
She told the Daily Record: “I’m absolutely disgusted and find it despicable that the only sentence he has been given is for the dog to be on a lead - which it was anyway at the time of the attack - and for it to be muzzled.
“He’s also been ordered to pay £210. I just feel totally worthless and forgotten about as though I’ve not factored into any of it. I’ve been left with permanent scarring, damage to my tendons and PTSD which I’m getting treatment for.
“It wasn’t a case of the dog biting me and the owner being really apologetic. It’s the fact that it’s now nearly 18 months since it happened, he lives 500 metres away from me and yet he’s made no attempt to apologise.
“He turned his back and walked off and left me lying there even though I told him how serious my medical condition was and that I needed help.
“There’s not really been any form of punishment to the man and the dog is still wandering around.”
Stephanie reported the incident to the police but claims she had to repeatedly chase officers to investigate the attack before the animal’s owner was eventually reported to prosecutors. She explained: “I got in touch with the police that night when I got home from the hospital but it took them three days to come out.
“They actually asked me what I wanted them to do and told me to get in touch with the dog warden. I had been attacked - not frightened by a dog. It was all very blasé.
"I then never heard anything for three weeks so I ended up getting in touch with the Superintendent for the Dumbarton area and said it was totally unacceptable. I hadn’t had any correspondence from them at all - not even an email to say they were investigating.
“After I complained, the officer in charge got back in touch with me and insinuated that I had got hold of the man’s name and address and that it was a malicious vendetta and that there was no evidence despite the fact there were two witnesses.
“It took about three or four weeks before they, for want of a better word, believed my version of the event and they actually went to the man’s door. At the very last minute he pleaded guilty to the charge.”
Recalling the terrifying attack, Stephanie said: “The dog jumped right up to the top of my arm and locked its jaws around me. It took a good chunk out of my arm. I pulled my arm away instinctively and I remember the dog trying to come back for a second attack.
“I told the man that I have a serious medical condition. If I have any trauma, accident or illness, I can go into something called an adrenal crisis. My main concern was that I didn’t lose consciousness. But I started to feel sick and dizzy.
“I staggered and I couldn’t make my way any further and I ended up slumped at the side of the road. I did tell the man that I didn’t keep well and I thought he was going to help me but he just turned and walked off.
“It was only at this point that a driving instructor who was chatting to one of his colleagues nearby ran over to see what was happening. He was absolutely fantastic and excellent at trying to help me.
“He could see my jumper had been ripped and the blood was already seeping through. I explained that my brother was in the house, which was about 500 metres away, and that I’d need an emergency injection kit.
“I lay down because I didn’t want to reach the stage where I passed out and hit the ground. He went as quickly as he possibly could and got my brother to come with the emergency injection kit which had to be administered at the side of this busy road with buses and lorries going by.
“The injection has to go into the top of my thigh so it was quite humiliating as well. I managed to get to the hospital and they were absolutely horrified when they saw the extent of the injury.
“They said if I hadn’t had such a strong instinct to pull away, the dog could have got one of my main veins and arteries. I was given antibiotics, a tetanus jab and had it stitched and dressed.
“The most painful part of it was two or three days later when it started to knit together and I was having to clean it. The pain was so bad I actually felt like I was going to physically pass out.
“The bruising spread around nine or ten inches down my arm by this point as well. There is a growing problem here with people who have got dogs during lockdown and maybe haven’t trained them or got them socialised properly. You’re hearing about dog attacks more and more often.”
Robert O'Donnell was convicted of being the owner of a dog that was dangerously out of control in a public.
Police Scotland and West Dunbartonshire Council have been contacted for comment.
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