Pet dog kills owner at his home in Wood Green.
A man shouted desperately for help as he was mauled in a deadly attack by his Staffordshire bull terrier while being filmed by a BBC documentary crew.
The 41-year-old man was rushed to hospital after the attack at a flat in Wood Green, north London, on Monday last week but details of the attack only emerged today.
The victim was named by neighbours as Mario Perivoitos, 41, who lived in the flat in a four storey housing block run by Homes for Haringey.
Residents said that on the day he was killed they heard shouting from the flat.
A neighbour who lived above him said: “I heard it all, it was just awful.
“I heard someone shouting ‘get the dog off me, get the dog off me Mario’. That’s when I heard the dog really start and Mario must have stepped in. I heard them shouting for the dog to get off him and that’s when it must have bitten him. I heard screaming for help.”
Another neighbour, Geff Morgan, 52, said: “I heard shouting saying ‘get the dog off me’ – the dog was barking really loudly.
“The police smashed the door down and they pulled him out. They were working on him outside the door — he was bleeding from his neck. He was semi conscious.
“There was a lot of blood.”
It is not yet known what programme the man was being interviewed about by the BBC.
A BBC spokesman said: “A crew making a BBC documentary were present – but not filming – at the time of the incident and called an ambulance. Given the ongoing inquiries, it would not be appropriate to comment further.”
A neighbour said: “We knew the family for 20 years, they were a nice family. Mario had his struggles. He loved his dog and looked after him really well. It’s not a bad dog at all.”
The dog was seized by officers and is now at a secure kennels, while a decision is made on whether or not to put it down.
Staffordshire Bull Terriers are not a breed prohibited under the Dangerous Dogs Act and are a popular choice for pets.
A post-mortem examination at Haringey mortuary gave the cause of death as “hypovolemic shock and damage to the airway consistent with a dog bite,” police said.
The Met said the death was not being treated as suspicious and next of kin have been informed.
Of all the disturbing rhetoric in this story, this sentence is the most disturbing of all:
“A neighbour said: “We knew the family for 20 years, they were a nice family. Mario had his struggles. He loved his dog and looked after him really well. It’s not a bad dog at all.”