9-year-old girl has tip of nose bitten off in dog attack in Glasgow

A nine-year-old girl had to undergo emergency surgery after a dog injured her face, a court heard.

The child’s mother described how the Staffordshire bull terrier pulled her daughter to the floor in a Glasgow apartment in June 2022 and bit off the tip of her nose.

She was taken to Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, where skin from behind her ear was removed to create a ‘new nose’.

Callum Campbell, 24, was found guilty at Glasgow Crown Court of having a dog which was dangerously out of control.

The court heard the girl and her mother visited Campbell’s home in Maryhill to meet his mother in preparation for a dance competition.

As the women chatted, Campbell entered the kitchen to get something to drink. The dog appeared in the living room doorway and stared at them.

“The dog looked like a statue and before I knew it he was on top of me and my little girl,” the witness said.

“The dog was quite strong and grabbed my little girl. I tried to save her. He growled.

“My little girl was pulled from the living room chair to the floor.

“The dog took my little girl’s nose off.”

The woman said Campbell’s mother yelled, “Why did you take the dog out?”

He replied that he thought he had closed the door.

The girl was kept in hospital for four nights and missed the dance competition that took place two days after the incident.

She has since undergone therapy to reduce her fear of dogs and has been left with a scar on her nose as a result.

According to the mother, Campbell claimed it was not his dog that carried out the attack.

Michael Tierney, defending him, told the witness that she had misheard him, but she denied this.

Sheriff Mary Shields deferred Campbell’s sentence until next month pending background checks and granted him bail.