A five-year-old girl was dragged screaming along the ground after being picked up by her wrist by a neighbour’s dog, it has been alleged.

The girl’s mother, who was also allegedly bitten on the thigh by the Alsatian/Labrador cross called “Zorro” rushed to her daughter’s aid and managed to carry her to safety, Ipswich Crown Court was told.

Sarah O’Mahoney suffered bruising to her arm and grazing to her leg as a result of the alleged attack in Minsmere Way, Great Cornard in January last year.

Mark Roochove, prosecuting told the court that on January 23 last year Gary and Zoe O’Mahoney had gone to their neighbour Kristina Litvinaite-Fortuin’s house to discuss a house swap.

While the couple were talking to 33-year-old Litvinaite-Fortuin “Zorro” ran out of the front door and allegedly bit Mr O’Mahoney on the ankle and then bit his wife on the thigh as she ran towards their daughter Sarah, who was waiting on a footpath.

Mrs O’Mahoney described seeing the dog grab her daughter’s wrist with its jaws and pin her to the ground before dragging her along the ground.

“Sarah was screaming, Me, Gary and Kristina were shouting at the dog to get it off her and I managed to pick her up and run to another neighbour’s house,” said Mrs O’Mahoney.

She said that as a result of the alleged incident she had been left with a permanent scar on her leg.

She said her daughter suffered grazes to her leg where she was dragged along the ground and bruising to her wrist where she was grabbed by the dog.”Fortunately she was wearing a thick denim jacket and it didn’t penetrate her skin,” said Mrs O’Mahoney.

Litvinaite-Fortuin, of Minsmere Way, Great Cornard has denied two offences of being the owner of a dog which caused injury while dangerously out of control in a public place Cross-examined by defence counsel, Jude Durr, Mrs O’Mahoney denied that she and her daughter were bitten in Litvinaite-Fortuin’s garden and not on the public footpath.

She accepted her husband had been given a police caution in a March for having an air weapon in a public place following the alleged dog attack.

The trial continues today.