Updated 07.17 | Published 07.09
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full screenEdith, 5, doesn’t want to go to McDonalds anymore. But she is doing well under the circumstances. Photo: Private
Edith, 5, was waiting for food at McDonalds.
Then suddenly a stranger grabbed her – and bit her in the face.
– She got a bleeding wound just under the eye and saliva all over her face, says mother Elin.
The incident was reported to the police and is now being investigated.
It is noon in Gothenburg and Elin enters a McDonalds with her 5-year-old daughter Edith and 3-year-old Sam. They order their food and sit down at a table in the restaurant.
At the next table sits a disabled person and their carer.
– The person waves to my daughter and we wave back, says Elin.
When the caregiver gets up and walks away from the person to get food, chaotic scenes erupt.
Blood and saliva on the face
– It takes two seconds from the resource leaving, then this person storms up, runs to my daughter and pulls her. At first it looks like the person is going to hug her. But the person holds her very hard and bites her in the face. My daughter gets a bleeding wound right under her eye and saliva all over her face.
Elin sits on the other side of the table and hurries to stop the person. At the same time, the carer comes rushing from his direction. Together they manage to get the person away.
The carer and the person sit down again and there is first silence between the tables.
– I try to comfort Edith. When my shock starts to settle, I say: “My God, my daughter has been bitten in the face, we have to do something”.
Never want to go to McDonalds again
She called the police, who came there to receive the report and who urged the family to go to the emergency room, where Edith was replastered.
– She is doing well now. She is a bit shocked and she says she never wants to go to McDonalds again. But she has no physical ones other than the bruise on her face and the marks left by her teeth.
Blame the accommodation – not the person
After the incident, the family, in addition to reporting to the police, also contacted the residence in question.
– I think it was terribly shocking and scary that it could happen. I do not blame the person in question because he is disabled. On the other hand, I blame the accommodation that let the person be out with a lone carer, says Elin.
– We feel that they have broken their routines.
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full screen Camilla Dahlin, operations manager at the concerned LSS accommodation. Photo: Private
Accommodation: “We are investigating”
Camilla Dahlin is operations manager at the person’s residence. She states that she only found out about the incident when Edith’s father called and told her.
– It’s always very sad when something like this happens, of course. Now we are investigating what has happened and we are trying to understand from our side. But I cannot go into an individual case, says Camilla Dahlin.
She does not want to comment on whether they broke the routines, but refers to the fact that it must be investigated first.
– We always make an individual assessment for each person as to what the support should look like.
But the parent of the person who bit says that it is not about the accommodation’s routines, but that it was an accident.
– My child would never bite someone deliberately.
The parent believes that it is simply a stressful situation and that the person who bit later was remorseful.
– He is the world’s nicest, kindest, happiest person. But who have difficulty with impulses and determining how hard to hug, says the parent.