Dog mauled Doncaster baby to death because it was ‘probably jealous’, says uncle

The dog which mauled a newborn baby to death in a horrific Doncaster attack was ‘probably jealous’ or thought the tot was a toy, his devastated uncle has said.
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12 day old baby Elon died after being savaged by the family’s crossbreed Chow Chow Teddy at a house in Welfare Road, Woodlands on Sunday. His parents, Abigail Ellis, 27 and Stephen Joynes, 35, have both been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

Now the baby’s uncle has spoken of the horror and how the three foot tall dog, which has now been destroyed, leapt over the rails of a pen that was ‘too low’ to carry out the attack.

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In an interview with the Daily Mail, the uncle, who has not been named, said Elon had been lying in a Moses basket in a downstairs room when the dog raced inside after escaping from an enclosure in the back garden.

The house in Welfare Road, Woodlands where Elon was attacked by a dog. (Photo: SWNS).The house in Welfare Road, Woodlands where Elon was attacked by a dog. (Photo: SWNS).
The house in Welfare Road, Woodlands where Elon was attacked by a dog. (Photo: SWNS).

He told the newspaper: “It was horrible and we’re all in total shock. My sister’s in bits, she’s lost her baby, and her son saw it all.'

‘Teddy’s not a bad or dangerous dog. He’d been living at the house for months and was really good around my sister’s other three kids.

‘I think he was jealous when the new baby came along and all the attention he was getting. Or maybe he thought the baby was a toy, he was a tiny thing and only six pounds something when he was born.’

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The uncle said the dog grabbed the baby in its jaws as Joynes and the baby’s brother battled to save him.

Showing a Mail reporter the dog’s enclosure, he said: ‘It’s much too low for him, he’s a big dog about three foot tall and they were making it higher. He didn’t live in the house he lived in the pen. He was shuttered in.’

The uncle, who had come to lay flowers at the scene and pay his respects, fought back tears, saying: ‘What happened is heartbreaking. I never even got to see my new nephew.’

“The dog was in the pen and he suddenly jumped over the top and got free and went through the open door into a room downstairs where the baby was in a Moses basket. Then it attacked him. He may have thought it was a toy or a doll.

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‘I don’t know the full details because they’re too upset to talk about ut. But the dog had never been any trouble before. It had been living there for some time. It was Steve’s daughter’s dog and when he split up with his partner she didn’t want to keep it so my sister took it on.

‘It was a big softie called Teddy and all the kids and adults cuddled it. Police have destroyed it now so that’s another loss.’

He added: ‘It wasn’t her fault or Steve’s but simply a tragic accident and her son witnessed the attack. It will effect them all forever. They’ll never get over it.

‘She’ll never be able to live here again. They’ll have to move away.’

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Emergency services raced to the house at around 3.30pm on Sunday.

Elon was rushed to hospital but died shortly afterwards from his injuries.

Both parents have been bailed pending further inquires.

One woman who witnessed the aftermath of the attack said she had seen the dog pulling three police officers into the road as they attempted to bundle it into a van.

A neighbour, who declined to be named, described the dog as 'very big' and 'not something you'd want around small children'.

They also said that the dog had a habit of running into other people's gardens.

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