On their first day in Pretoria, Jessica Young’s family suffered a horrific ordeal as a rottweiler viciously attacked her six-year-old daughter at a complex in the east.

Young and her two daughters had just arrived in Pretoria from Thabazimbi on Wednesday evening and had to sign a contract and collect the keys to her rented house.

When they arrived at the complex, Young and her eldest daughter stepped out of the car and there was a rottweiler which the old man who lives there assured them was a friendly dog and there was no need to fear.

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“It came near us, to smell our scent and did not do anything weird. I went into the house with my eldest daughter to sign the contract and I got the keys.

“When I returned to the car and opened my passenger door the dog just went into the back of the car where my other daughter was.”

Six-year-old Caylee was sitting in her car seat, playing a game on a phone.

“She didn’t talk or move and the dog started smelling her face, which made me uncomfortable, but I thought this dog just wants to smell her like he did with us then get out of the car.

“And the next moment she started crying that the dog was biting her. She started screaming and I saw the dog had my daughter’s arm in his mouth.

“I got on top of the dog and wrapped my legs around him, putting my hands into his mouth, to pry his jaws open.

“I even have stitches on my fingers from trying to open his mouth, the teeth just sunk into my fingers and I eventually got him loose from my daughter.”

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Young sustained puncture wounds on her arm and under her arm close to the lungs.

“The old man grabbed my daughter and tried to run to safety, but as soon he tried to run, the dog slipped from my grip and got hold of my daughter’s leg.

“The dog shredded her leg, we couldn’t get it to leave her, it was just terrible.”

She said the owner of the dog was not available. “He is in Canada and it is a complex and the dog was running free and just attacked my daughter unprovoked.

“He pulled my daughter from the car seat, that’s how strong the dog was and he just kept going for her.”

Young said her daughter was in theatre for operations and had to have 150 stitches. She had 16 puncture wounds but is recovering well.

“We haven’t seen her legs and the stitches but it was a nightmare and it still is.

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“If I close my eyes I see it happening all over again, I see my daughter and me trying to get this dog away from her and I just see her arm being crushed by this dog.

“I can’t even sleep. I haven’t slept in three days because I have those pictures in my head, the cuts, the bruises … and it’s costing us,” an emotional Young said.

Despite her daughter being on her medical aid, she had to pay R5 000 for a rabies shot and her own stitches, she said.

“This is money we really do not have, especially because I have just moved here with my two daughters and I am currently unemployed. This has made our lives a living hell.”

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