Chimp hell victim sues for pounds 100m; Charla's nose, lips and eyelids chewed off.Byline: Craig McDonald THE family of a woman savaged by her best friend's pet chimp are seeking pounds 100million in damages. Charla Nash was blinded and her hands, nose, lips and eyelids eyelids, n.pl a moveable fold of thin skin over the eye. The orbicularis oculi muscle and the oculomotor nerve control the opening and closing of the eyelid. were chewed off when the 14-stone animal went berserk ber·serk adj. 1. Destructively or frenetically violent: a berserk worker who started smashing all the windows. 2. . Her lawyers are now trying to sue the state of Connecticut, where the attack took place, saying officials failed to prevent it. Travis the chimp struck when owner Sandy Herold asked Charla to help lure lure the skin-covered object which runs on a monorail on a Greyhound racing track and which the dogs are schooled to chase. The lure must be kept 30 to 40 ft ahead of the leading dog so that the field is stretched out. him back into her house. Charla, 55, suffered horrific hor·rif·ic adj. Causing horror; terrifying. [Latin horrificus : horr  re, to tremble + -ficus, -fic. injuries during the 15-minute attack
in February.
Travis sank in his teeth as his owner stabbed him with a knife to get himto stop. Warned Charla was so disfigured dis·fig·ure tr.v. dis·fig·ured, dis·fig·ur·ing, dis·fig·ures To mar or spoil the appearance or shape of; deform. [Middle English disfiguren, from Old French desfigurer that a police officer mistook her for a man, saying: "He's got no face." Cops then shot Travis dead when he tried to attack them. Charla remains in a stable condition in a hospital in Cleveland, Ohio "Cleveland" redirects here. For the Cleveland metropolitan area, see . For other uses, see Cleveland (disambiguation). Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. , and could be in line for a face transplant A face transplant is a skin graft that involves replacing part or all of a patient's face with a donor face. Purpose People with faces disfigured by burns, trauma, disease or birth defects might benefit from the procedure. . The animal, who had appeared on TV shows and adverts, had also escaped in 2003 from his owner's car and led police on a chase for hours on city streets. Charla's lawyer Matt Newman said a government biologist had previously warned the state that Travis could seriously hurt someone if he felt threatened. He added: "We believe the evidence will show that the state failed to adequately address a serious public safety issue that resulted in tragic consequences." Charla's family are also suing Herold, 70, for pounds 30million damages. Herold claims the attack was workrelated and thinks the chimp went berserk at her home in Stamford because her friend had changed her hairstyle. She treated Travis like a child, dressing him in clothes and letting it sleep with her. They were even reported to take baths together and the anti-anxiety drug Xanax was found in his system after death. CAPTION(S): STRANGE: Owner Sandy Herold PICTURE OF INNOCENCE: Charla poses with Travis before the terrible attack |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion