Mum describes terror of son, 5, being attacked by German Shepherd dog in pub

16 January 2024 , 12:41

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CCTV shows Kaelan Rockey petting the dog before it lunges at him (Image: Charlene Rockey)

A mum has relived the horror of her five-year-old son having his face "ripped off" by a German Shepherd dog during a family visit to their local pub.

Shocking CCTV footage from inside The White Hart pub in Smallthorne, Stoke-on-Trent - shared with the Mirror - shows the savage attack on little Kaelan Rockey on Christmas Eve. He was left with 13 lacerations to his face and throat, and needed emergency surgery. Mum Charlene Rockey has called for police to have the animal destroyed, and says it's "disgusting" it still hasn't been seized.

She told the Mirror: "If it had been a Staffy or an XL Bully something would have been done that night." Charlene, 35, her parents and Kaelan had gone to the pub at around 7.15pm on December 24 last year. She said "20 seconds" later she heard her son screaming and found he'd been bitten as he petted the dog near the bar.

It is the family's local pub, and Charlene's mum was even the landlady a few years ago. Kaelen had run ahead and gone inside while his mum and grandparents were a few paces behind. "I didn’t even get chance to get to the bar," said Charlene. "I’ve heard him scream, I’ve gone running round the corner. I hadn’t noticed there was a dog or anything. I just picked up the little one and ran out. It was a different type of scream so I knew he was hurt.

"I’ve then seen all his face had been ripped off. Then this woman came running up to me and said he’s been bitten by a dog. The ambulance and the police were called. By half past seven we were being blue lighted. That’s how quick it all happened."

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

Mum describes terror of son, 5, being attacked by German Shepherd dog in pub

Kaelan was mauled on the face and neck (Charlene Rockey)

He was rushed to hospital after the attack (Charlene Rockey)

Kaelan had surgery on Boxing Day, in which his face and neck were stitched up. Since then, Charlene was given the CCTV footage of the attack. She said: "He doesn’t provoke the dog, it’s a dog that’s been in there before, apparently. Kaelan was in earlier on the same day with my mum and dad. He was stroking the dog then too. It’s an unprovoked attack, we don’t know why.

"From the CCTV you can clearly see Kaelen does nothing wrong, he pets him and walks away then pets him again and the dog has him. There’s no warning signs whatsoever that he doesn’t want to be petted, it’s like he’s a little doll, it doesn’t look real. It’s lucky the dog let go. When we went to the hospital they said face on it would be a different story.

Doctors said he was lucky the attack was side on (Charlene Rockey)

Kaelan had surgery three days after the attack (Charlene Rockey)

"The owner didn’t even acknowledge it, just walked straight out the door with the dog. I’m just really angry with the police that the dog wasn’t seized that night. You can clearly see the dog had every intention of killing. It’s not nice at all."

Charlene said Kaelan has been left "absolutely petrified" of all animals since the attack and is suffering with night terrors. "The first couple of days he was in and out of sleeping and now he’s absolutely petrified," she said. "On the school run, dogs come past and he’ll literally climb up onto the wall or he’s like ‘Mummy, pick me up’.

Charlene with Kaelan as he recovered in hospital (Charlene Rockey)

Kaelan sleeping after his surgery (Charlene Rockey)

"I literally can’t leave him on his own in a room now. He’s always been quite an independent child. We went to Wheelock Farm, he loves that place. He’s been loads of times. This time a goat came over and he said ‘Mummy, I don’t want to be here’. He’s just scared of all animals in general."

She went on to say: "When he’s sleeping he’s kicking off and having night terrors. But when he wakes up in the morning he doesn’t seem to acknowledge he’s had a dream or anything. It’s more a subconscious thing than anything. He’s fine until any animal approaches - cat, goat, dog, he’s scared of anything at the moment, which is understandable."

Charlene hopes he doesn't have permanent scarring (Charlene Rockey)

Charlene and Kaelan before the attack (Charlene Rockey)

Kaelan was able to come home on December 27, where his Christmas presents were still waiting for him. Charlene said: "It took quite a while because he’d open a couple and then get upset and want to go to sleep. So, it’s been quite hard, really, couple of days just to get through the presents."

She said she hopes he doesn't always associate Christmas time with the attack and that his scars eventually fade. "They’ve done a good job of the stitches and it’s healing quite well. Hopefully, as the years go on, as he’s still young, the scarring won’t be as noticeable."

Kaelan opening his Christmas presents after getting home from hospital

Charlene said she was told later the dog owner was in the pub with the male German Shepherd and a female Husky, which was reportedly in season, according to witnesses. The mum said she was contacted by Staffordshire Police on Saturday (January 13) and told the dog owner is due for a voluntary interview on January 20. The White Hart was closed for the evening after the incident and Charlene understands dogs have now been banned.

A spokesperson for Staffordshire Police confirmed to the Mirror: "We will be interviewing a man on 20 January in connection with the incident."