A FOUR-year-old girl needed 25 stitches to her face after she was attacked by a dog.

Macy Davis, of Lugar Close, on Colchester’s Greenstead estate, was mauled by a border collie she had been petting at the home of her mother’s friend in Rowhedge.

Her mother, Nichola Davis, said her daughter, who was starting at St Andrew’s Primary School, in Hickory Avenue, Colchester, today, had been left traumatised by the attack.

“She’s going to have a scar for the rest of her life,” she said.

“For a four-year-old, it is not very nice, and it will be hard for me to take her to school knowing how cruel kids can be.

“The hospital said she was very lucky not to lose her eyesight as she had a puncture wound under her eye.”

Mrs Davis said her daughter had been stroking the pet and was getting up when the animal leapt at her face. “The ambulance crew took one look at her and took her straight to Colchester General Hospital,” she said.

“I was there with all three of my girls when it happened. It was very scary and it has traumatised all of us.

“I have had to muzzle our own German shepherd because Macy gets petrified whenever she barks now.”

Macy was later taken to Broomfield Hospital, in Chelmsford. She required 25 stitches and was kept in hospital for two days while she was given intravenous antibiotics.

“I would like to see this dog put down, in case it happens to someone else,” added Mrs Davis.

“It has been very difficult with my friend as they don’t want the dog to be put down.

“The police have told me that because it was on private property nothing can be done about it.

“I’m the owner of a dog and I think it’s wrong that if someone’s dog came into my home and it chewed someone’s face off, nothing could be done about it.”

A spokesman for Colchester police said the incident, which happened in Colne Rise, on July 28, had been reported to officers.

“As the incident happened on private land, no further action will be taken by police,” she said.

If the dog had been a dangerous breed, police would have investigated the incident further, but said the border collie did not fit into that category.

The RSCPA confirmed that criminal prosecutions could not take place for such incidents that took place on private land.