A MOTHER died after being bitten by one of her two dogs during a fight over chicken nuggets, an inquest has heard.
Michelle Hempstead, of Southend in Essex, had a Pomeranian dog called Pom and a mastiff rottweiler cross called Trigg.
Michelle Hempstead, 34, who died after being bitten by one of her dogs at her flat in Southend-on-Sea, Essex[/caption]
Essex Coroner’s Court in Chelmsford heard that the dogs were ‘quite well behaved’[/caption]
A hearing in Chelmsford was told the 34-year-old was throwing chicken nuggets to her dogs in her flat on July 29 last year when Trigg bit her.
The large dog caught an artery in the woman’s arm when it nipped at the smaller Pomeranian.
Ms Hempstead was rushed to hospital but tragically passed away the next day following traumatic blood loss which led to multiple organ failure.
Samuel West, Ms Hempstead’s partner, told Monday’s hearing that she had bought McDonald’s food and “had her box of, I think, 20 nuggets.”
“She liked to throw them up in the air and the little one, Pom, was going for the big one, not aggressively but he used to growl and snap when he wanted to get the nugget first,” he said.
He said that as Pom went to get a nugget “Trigg’s done this thing where he chomps his mouth.”
He would go on to explain that the larger dog, Trigg, snapped his mouth, saying “It looked to me like it wasn’t a grab.”
Mr West described the tragedy as an “absolute freak accident” and told the court Trigg “didn’t have a bad bone in his body.”
Mr West would go on to explain that Trigg never showed his teeth and would sleep on Ms Hempstead’s bed with her.
Comments made by Ms Hempstead’s partner on police bodycam footage describe the moment Trigg caught the mother’s arm in his jaws.
In the footage Mr West can be heard saying Ms Hempstead “threw the nugget up in the air – she was just caught in the crossfire.”
Essex senior coroner Lincoln Brookes said Pom “had a go at Trigg” and Trigg “did go to bite him or snap at him, and this is a big dog with big jaws.”
He said he accepted Pom and Trigg were “quite well behaved” and Trigg was “an otherwise gentle giant.”
The senior coroner recorded a conclusion of accidental death.
Michelle Hempstead passed away in hospital after her dog severed an artery in her arm[/caption]
