A boy injured when a Japanese fighting dog latched onto his arm as he tried to retrieve a tennis ball from a garden has settled his High Court action for €65,000.
Two men who rushed to help Adam Tiernan had to beat off the Japanese Akita with a hurley and golf club.
The boy, then seven, was shaken "like a rag doll" as the dog pull him about in what his mother said was like "a scene from Jaws".
Mr Justice Kevin Cross said it was a horrific attack and he directed that €2,000 of the settlement funded a new computer and holiday "to help him get over all this".
The boy had a three-hour operation after the attack on June 1st, 2010 involving 120 stitches.
Through his mother Angelaine Tiernan, St Mark's Crescent, Clondalkin, Dublin, the boy ( 12) had sued dog owner David Murray, also of St Mark's Crescent.
It was alleged there was failure to give the boy any adequate warning of the fact there was danger in the area.
It was also claimed Mr Murray failed to properly control a dog kept on his premises.
Outside court, Ms Tiernan said: “We are very grateful to the men who tried to pull the dog off him, but it had latched on to his arm and would not give way at first.” Her son’s head “was bruised from being hit against the bars of the fence as the dog kept pulling on his arms. ”
The owner had put down the dog that night, she said.