Toddler Severely Bitten By Kids At Play Center, Left Scarred For Life

A toddler was left with bruises and cuts all over her body after being bitten by children 15 times at a soft play center in Seacroft, Leeds, England, recently.

Seventeen-month-old Willow-Ivy Doherty suffered four bites to her face, two to her fingers, three to her back, several to her head, one each to her ear, shoulder, wrist and leg after two children attacked her in the toilet area of her play center last Friday.

Her mother Becky said Wednesday that she heard another parent scream “Oh my God, whose baby is this?” She then saw a little boy, said to be around three-years-old, with “big smile on his face, with blood all around his mouth” post the incident.

“She looks like she’s been savaged by a dog, not a child,” the single mother told Mirror.

She said the children had to be separated by another person after the child and his older brother attacked her daughter. “She had pulled the boy off Willow. He had hold of her neck,” she said.

The child was taken to hospital where she was given an injection for Hepatitis B and treatment for her cuts. Daily Mail reported that Doherty will have to undergo a skin graft on her face. Her doctor said the bites came from two different children and has left red marks all over her body.

Becky added the boy’s mother did not come forward until she asked the boy where his mother was. The mother came and allegedly insisted that “That's what kids do, that's what kids do!”

A spokesperson for the play center said the toddler received first aid after the incident. “We are not a nursery. The children need parental supervision,” the spokesperson said while warning the parents.

West Yorkshire Police too confirmed the incident.

“Police received a report of a 17-month-old child having been bitten by a three-year-old child at an indoor soft play area in Seacroft on Friday. The child was treated at hospital and an assault occasioning actual bodily harm was recorded. A social services referral was made in relation to the suspect child and the crime has been finalised due to them being under the age of criminal responsibility,” a West Yorkshire Police spokesman said.

In a similar incident earlier this week, a 10-year-old girl was charged with the death of a child after she allegedly stomped on the six-month-old’s head at a Wisconsin daycare. The girl was charged with first-degree intentional homicide.

Chippewa County Sheriff’s department got a called from a caretaker at the daycare who said a six-month-old baby was bleeding from the head and was unresponsive. The baby was first taken to a nearby hospital and then to Gillette Children’s Hospital in St Paul, Minnesota, where he died two days post the incident.