Dog attack postie's terror nightmares

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Dog-attac ... 3640701.jp

By Sarah Dunn

A POSTMAN savaged by two dogs in Sheffield is haunted in his nightmares by his terrifying ordeal.
Paul Coleman, aged 39, suffered terrible injuries to both legs in the 15-minute attack when a pit bull and Staffie/ Japanese Tosa cross dragged him 15ft down the road and bit him almost to the bone.

He underwent six hours of surgery following the mauling - first to clean the wounds, then to take skin grafts from his arms to repair the scarring.

Today the dad-of-two from Richmond, Sheffield, revealed: "The hospital staff said it was one of the worst attacks they'd seen. It looked like I'd been bitten by a shark.

"It is lucky I am a big lad - if it had been someone skinnier, or a baby, no way would they have survived."

Although Paul said physically he was "getting stronger and better every day", he admitted the damage had gone deeper.

He told The Star: "I am scared for my colleagues doing that round now . This shouldn't happen to a postman, or a gas man, or someone taking an electricity meter reading - they are just trying to do their job." Paul, who lives in ************** with his partner Tracy Kelwich, 37, his four-year-old daughter Grace, and five-month-old son Evan, is still in constant pain and needs crutches to get upstairs to bed.

"I am not getting to sleep at nights, I am still having dreams about it," he said. The Staffordshire bull terrier was caught shortly after the attack in Grimesthorpe on December 18 and put down, but the other dog is still on the loose.

"If I knew that dog had been destroyed maybe I wouldn't be having these nightmares," said Paul. "I still know it's out there, and while I do I will be scared doing my job."

The attack happened in Rothay Road, as Paul delivered mail on the round he has covered for the past two years.

"There was a car outside one of the houses so I ran behind it - I thought if the dogs go left, I'll go right," he remembered. "But one went left and the other went right and then one was on my legs straight away. I tried to shake it off and I was screaming like a little girl."

Despite help from neighbours - who hit the dogs with weapons including a garden fork, a metal pole and even a hammer - the attack continued.

Paul said it was only the sound of the police sirens and ambulance that finally brought the ordeal to an end.

He added: "I stayed awake during it all and I'm glad - if I'd passed out maybe they would have gone for my throat."

Paul wants to return to work once his injuries have healed - a process doctors say will take around six to eight weeks.

He spent six days in the trauma unit of the Northern General, and underwent two major operations. He was unable to see his children for six days until he was allowed home on Christmas Eve.

The dogs' owner was arrested under the Dangerous Dogs Act and bailed until the end of January.

[baldrick]

If he is off for 6-8 weeks the HR computer will send out a Stage letter even though it's an Incident on Duty.