UPDATE: Woman savaged by dogs recovers
Since the attack, she finds it hard to be around dogs and feels safer indoors as there are dogs across the road from where she stays.
FOLLOWING her gruesome dog attack, the Queensburgh News visited Madelein Odendaal to check on her recovery and get her version of events. Her scars are visible but, she seems to be healing quickly. However, she said emotionally, that wasn’t the case.
“I still get nightmares about the attack and my sister says I talk a lot in my sleep. Other times, I cannot remember a thing,” she said. Odendaal was on her way home when three rottweilers aggressively ripped off pieces of her skin and flesh on Thomas Holmstead Road in Rossburgh on the afternoon of Wednesday, 19 August. She was with her siblings and her 4-year-old son, Ethan, who is also said to be suffering from the trauma.
“After the attack, Ethan came back home emotionless, he didn’t say a word. He often talks about blood and blood-related things, he also sings about it,” said Odendaal’s mother, Deidré Groenewald. Odendaal said she begged a stranger driving past during the attack to take her son; however, her pleas were ignored.
“My head was down the whole time but I had to look up and see where Ethan was, that’s when the dogs bit my face.” Since the attack, she finds it hard to be around dogs and feels safer indoors as there are dogs across the road from where she stays. She said she has been in contact with the owners of the dogs and they were very apologetic about the incident.
Police said that both parties wished to resolve the matter privately. The owners refused to comment.
