Man ordered to pay compensation after dog bit off girl's nose in Glasgow

A man whose dog bit a young dancer's nose off in an attack in Glasgow two years ago has been ordered to pay £600 compensation.

Callum Campbell's Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Boston pounced on the nine-year-old at her mother's home in Glasgow's Maryhill on June 16 2022.

Boston jumped on top of the girl, pulled her from a chair and dragged her across the living room floor of the flat.

The girl's terrified mother believed the girl had died as she initially did not move when the attack was over.

The stricken victim was later taken to hospital where skin was taken from her ear to create a "new nose" for her.

Campbell, 24, meantime claimed that his dog was not responsible for the attack.

The girl was due to compete in a dance competition two days later but was instead kept in hospital for four nights to recover.

Campbell was found guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court being in control of a dog which was dangerously out of control.

Sheriff Mary Shields tagged Campbell for a period of four weeks keeping him indoors between 7pm and 7am as well as imposing the compensation order upon him.

The court earlier heard from the girl's 45-year-old mother who visited Campbell's mum.

She said: "We were just yapping away as my daughter had a dance competition at the weekend.

"She was telling (the woman) all about that. We were just sitting blethering away."

The witness stated that atmosphere changed when Campbell entered the kitchen to get a drink.

She told the court that Campbell's dog appeared at the door to the living room and stared at them.

The witness said: "The dog was like a statue and before I knew it he was on top of me and my wee girl."

The woman claimed Campbell’s mum shouted: "Why did you let the dog out?".

He replied that he thought he shut the door.

Prosecutor Iain Mathieson asked the witness what the dog did when it reached her daughter.

She replied: "It jumped on me, I went to save my wee girl but the chair swung around.

"The dog was quite strong and got hold of my wee girl. I was trying to save her. It was growling .

"My wee girl got pulled to the floor from the chair right along the living room floor.

"The dog took my wee girl's nose off."

The woman stated that she did not know what Campbell did to remove Boston from her daughter.

The witness claimed that the girl initially did not move when she was on the ground adding: "I was wondering if she was alive."

She stated that the girl hugged her and told her mother not to cry while in a "state of shock."

The woman claimed that the girl then went on to be sick while Campbell phoned an ambulance.

She added: "He said that it wasn't his dog that did it. I will never forgive him."

The girl was taken straight to the operating theatre at the city's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

The woman said: "The operation was for a new nose for her. She lost the whole tip of her nose.

"They took skin from the back of her ear to make her new nose."

The girl was kept in hospital for four nights and missed the competition which would have been two days after the incident.

She was given counselling to help with her fear of dogs and has been left with a scar on her nose.

The woman added: "When she was dancing, she used to wear makeup to cover her nose as she was self conscious."

Michael Tierney, defending, put it to the witness that she misheard his client make the remark that it was not his dog which she refuted.

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