A YOUNG boy says he is now frightened to go out alone after being mauled by a dog.

Dean Hicks, 11, was saying goodbye to friends last Sunday when a Staffordshire bull terrier ran out of a house and bit him. He managed to fight the dog off but then had to run home with the dog chasing him.

He was taken to Medway Maritime Hospital at Gillingham, with a serious wound on the side of his torso.

He was given stitches for the 4in gash and inspected for damage to his internal organs.

Dean, who lives in Dunkirk Drive, Chatham, said: “I did not know there was a dog in the house and there was no gate around their garden.

“I was just standing there, at about 5.30pm, saying goodbye to my mates and the next thing I knew I had a dog attacking me.

“I managed to fight it off and then ran off down the street as it chased after me.

“I screamed at it from the top of my lungs and it left me alone.

“I’m feeling a bit better now but I’m still very upset and afraid.”

Dean, who attends St Thomas More Primary School, Chatham, has taken the week off as he is on very powerful antibiotics that are making him feel unwell.

His mother, Gillian, 36, said: “Dean is now afraid to play out in the street. The fact is, that if the dog had bitten someone smaller than Dean, it would not have been his side that was damaged, but his face.

Gillian, who works as a credit controller in Medway, lives with her husband, Peter, 33, and nine-year-old daughter.

The dog did not belong to the family that lived in the Dunkirk Drive house.

Initially, police said they would not be bringing a prosecution because the attack was on private land but later said they were re-examining the case.

Peter Rolph, a leading canine law expert, said: “As this boy was attacked in a garden, that did not have a gate and was easily accessible by the public, the attack is an offence under the act.”

Mr Rolph added: “As soon as the dog left the garden and chased the boy, there should have been no confusion as to this being private property.”