A father told yesterday how his eight-year-old son ran home alone “bloodied” and “terrified” after he was bitten repeatedly by an illegal pitbull that broke free from its tethering in a friend’s garden.

The man said witnesses who claimed to have seen the attack on his little boy in the Horseshoe Road area of Southampton on Sunday should be ashamed for not stepping in to help him get home safely.

“It was an unfortunate incident because the dog actually broke loose,” said the 46-year-old, who asked not to be named. “Whether it’s illegal or not is not important. The sad part is the neighbours or whoever witnessed it — my son came home by himself, bloodied and torn.

“Nobody came with him. The sad part is not the pitbull attack but the fact that not one person assisted him. The owner was securing the dog. By the time he got back, my son was gone.”

The man said the first he knew of the attack was when his son arrived home at about 4.30pm, having fled the friend’s backyard.

“I saw a torn shirt,” said his father. “I saw blood. I saw tears. He was shaking, distraught, the whole nine [yards].

“He’s got blood all over his shirt and it’s ripped from trying to fight the dog off. He was terrified. I wanted to beat the owner, kill the dog, but my main concern was making sure he was OK.”

The dad rushed his son to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital where he was treated for “really bad bites” to his upper arm. He was due to be seen again by a doctor yesterday to ensure infection had not set in.

The dog was surrendered to animal wardens and destroyed on Tuesday. The father told this newspaper he was able to obtain, from a friend, a photograph of the dog after it was killed.

He said his son was “relieved” after seeing the image, knowing the creature could not hurt him again. “He has a lot of support around him. We explained to him that these things happen. We showed him the picture of the dog after it was destroyed. I needed to see that dog dead. That was important to me.”

The father insisted he did not want the dog’s owner to be prosecuted and was more angry with bystanders who were willing to give witness statements to the authorities but not step in to comfort his son.

“If they witnessed it in its entirety, like they say they have, why didn’t they come and assist my son? You have an eight-year-old who was terrified, traumatised, blood dripping from his arm, clothes full of soil, scared.

“The owner has come to see my son on several occasions. Also, he has taken care of whatever expenses my son has. It’s an illegal pitbull but I know people have it for different reasons. Some have it because of people breaking into their houses. There’s no reason for them to have an illegal dog for their protection, I understand that. I have had dogs. I’m not concerned about that.”

He said there was a “legal dog” in his neighbourhood that had killed his partner’s cats but wasn’t seized or destroyed, despite complaints to the Department of Environmental Protection. “To me, it’s selective, because if this dog came into a yard and killed a cat, it could do the same to a child.

“What’s the difference? Why is the illegal dog put out? It’s supposed to be preventative but it doesn’t work.”

A police spokesman said officers did respond to reports of the attack on Sunday but the inquiry was being handled by animal wardens.

A Ministry of Health, Seniors and Environment spokesman confirmed that the illegal pitbull was “humanely euthanised after it was voluntarily surrendered”.

He added: “Investigations are ongoing. However, prosecution is dependent on a number of factors, including identification of witnesses.”