Three people, including the man looking after the dog, had to prise the animal off the girl after it sprang from more than two metres away and grabbed her hand.

This week in the Magistrate’s Court, Russell John Barton (47) pleaded guilty to being ‘in charge of a dog that was dangerously out of control’ and was fined £500 and ordered to pay almost £2,000 in compensation to the girl’s family.

The dog’s fate will now be decided at a civil hearing that is due to take place on 2 November.

The incident, which left the young girl suffering from nightmares and a severe fear of dogs, happened while the child and her parents were eating breakfast.

The court heard that Mr Barton had taken his sister’s dog, Bobby, to the Victoria Pier café on 26 August.

Outlining the case, police legal adviser Sam Morris said that while Bobby had reacted to the café owner’s dogs by barking when they arrived, he soon calmed down.

She said Mr Barton had been sitting with Bobby’s lead between his legs before then attaching it to a chair leg at the suggestion of another patron.

The girl who was injured was sitting with her parents, the court heard. As her father got up and moved to kiss his wife goodbye, the dog attacked.

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The court was told that a growling Bobby lurched over two metres and latched on to the child.

As the little girl ‘screamed hysterically’, her father, Mr Barton and another man worked frantically to try to free her from Bobby’s jaws, the court heard.

When they got her free, Bobby was taken outside and an ambulance had to be called to take the girl to hospital.

According to a family spokesperson, the four-year-old required reconstructive surgery and had to stay in hospital for three days after the attack.

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‘She wakes up at night with nightmares of being back to that day and can not go past the café without closing her eyes,’ her family said.

Based on witness accounts, Bobby’s attack was unprovoked. The child had been quietly finishing breakfast and was not holding any food at the time.

‘There was no signal that the dog was going to attack,’ the girl’s family said, adding that, as the dog’s lead was wrapped around the chair, furniture was flying and ‘the scene resembled a movie set’.

Representing Mr Barton, Advocate Rebecca Morley-Kirk said that he enjoyed a good relationship with Bobby and that he was ‘mortified that the dog bit the little girl’.

‘He has expressed remorse and is deeply upset about the incident and the effect it will have on the girl, the dog and his sister,’ she said. ‘He wishes to do everything he can to compensate the victim for her suffering.’

Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris said the case was ‘desperately sad’ and he had to balance the ‘tension between sympathy we all feel for the victim and the level of culpability you have’.

He said Barton must pay £1,984 in compensation and fined him an additional £500, which is to be paid in £50 instalments, but only after the full compensation order has been satisfied.

Bobby has been held at the JSPCA shelter since the attack.