Mourners farewell 'a beautiful young girl'
Hundreds of mourners gathered at Kings Park today to farewell four-year-old Ayen Chol mauled to death by a neighbour's pitbull mastiff.
Ayen, whose family arrived in Australia as refugees from Sudan in 2004, died after the dog wandered into her St Albans home, and attacked her while she was watching television in her lounge room on August 17.
Her cousin, Angelina Mayout, 31, was outside when the dog attacked her and followed her as she ran into the house.
The dog then attacked Ms Mayout's five-year-old daughter, Nyadeng Goaer, and when Ayen's mother, Jacklin Ancatto, tried to intervene, the dog turned on Ayen, who had been clinging to her mother's leg.
Today, mourners adorned the Resurrection Catholic Church with flowers and toys.
In a heartfelt eulogy, her aunt and uncle described a little girl who loved to share and who was always smiling.
The family were too upset to speak to the media following the traditional Sudanese service.
But a family friend, Angelo Garang, said the service was a fitting tribute to a 'lovely, caring, and beautiful young girl whose life was cut short'.
He said the family remained strong throughout the service, but the emotion of the day caused one mourner to collapse as Ayen's coffin was carried out.
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Children from Ayen's kindergarten released balloons in her memory earlier this week.
Kindergarten director Betty Black said the children were still asking when their classmate was coming back.
"We've told them that Ayen has gone, gone with the balloons, and she won't be coming back, like the balloons," Ms Black said.
Following the attack on Ayen, federal Justice Minister Brendan O'Connor said he intended to raise the issue of national dangerous dog laws with his state counterparts, after Labor frontbencher Bill Shorten asked him to take up the issue.
Mr Shorten, who described pit bulls as "sharks on legs", said some jurisdictions imposed small fines for dangerous dog owners while others had jail terms.
