In 2013, young Amanda Rosie Phillips had looked forward to writing the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) and being placed at a top school in Region Six, but her hopes were dashed when, on March 18, she was attacked by a Pitbull which resulted in severe head injuries and caused her hospitalization for an extended period of time. The attack required Amanda to receive in excess of ten sutures to the roof of the cranium which has left visible scars and which cause her pain periodically.

Now 15 years old, Amanda is a Fourth Form student at the Berbice Educational Institute and is preparing to write the CSEC Examinations, with an aim of pursuing a career in nursing. However, in order to assist her to realize those dreams, the Mayor and Town Council, has pledged a monthly donation to help the teen with her transportation and other essentials for school; a gesture that Amanda and her family are grateful for.
Her mother, Theresa Persaud recalled that fateful day, when, after returning home shortly after 17:30hrs, she had sent the eldest of her four children to go to a neighbourhood shop to make a purchase. Amanda returned saying that the shop was closed, but insisted on going to another shop nearby so that the family could have something to eat.

“I allowed her to go, but moments after a young boy in the neighbourhood came running saying ‘Aunty Girlie, Auntie Girlie, come see a dog bite Amanda’,” Theresa said. Accompanied by her husband they hurried up the street- just ten houses away- where she saw her daughter in a stooping position, along the grass parapet.
“When I approached her, she was saying ‘Mammy, come quick’. The neighbours had wrapped her with a sheet after they had rescued her from the dog, which I saw lying on the roadway. The dog was fatally chopped. Someone called a taxi which took us to New Amsterdam Hospital,” she said.

According to Persaud, she never saw the dog whenever she passed the area, but was told by neighbours that the dog would jump over the low fence and attack persons and despite complaints the owner never responded.
“However, after the incident, I was with my daughter at the Accident and Emergency Department, when the dog’s owner visited, and asked whether he could see the girl [my daughter] I told him it was ok. However during that period, the police came and arrested him and took him to the Central Police Station,” she said. “He was placed on station bail and he returned to the hospital on Monday, but he did not offer me anything. He kept saying that nobody should have killed his dog.”

Theresa related that she told the man that the boy saved her daughter which was more important and if the dog had its way her daughter might have been killed. “I am grateful to Clem [the man who saved Amanda] for saving my child’s life,” Theresa said.
She later learnt that her daughter was attacked from behind after the dog jumped on her back, before almost ripping off the flesh on top of her head. As a result of the injury, the teen underwent an antibiotic treatment before being released from hospital. Persaud who is a domestic servant, said she was unable to work as she needed to make regular visits to the health institution.