A man has been charged after a dog fatally mauled a one-day-old baby at a Hamilton house earlier this year.
Baby Jaxon Johnson died in Waikato Hospital 24 hours after being mauled at his Enderley home in October.
His mother had gone to the bathroom when a large Rottweiler called Bear attacked and dragged the newborn into the garden. The dog then tried to bury him.
A 21-year-old man has now been charged with owning a dog that causes serious injury/death to any person, an offence against Section 58 of the Dog Control Act 1996.
He is due to appear in Hamilton District Court this afternoon, police said.
Jaxon's grandparents Vera and Viktor Zabiyaka only met their grandson for the first time the night before he died. His mother contacted them to say he was fighting for his life in hospital.
"We got a phone call about 10 o'clock on Sunday night from [Jackson's mother's] midwife at Waikato Hospital who advised us to go there," Vera said.
"She told us the baby was 'beautiful' and a 'good' boy ... he had been bitten but he was still alive. We didn't even know that the baby had been born at that stage."
Police said at the time Jaxon's mother was "devastated and crushed" about the death.
She went on to share a photo on social media of herself sitting on the grass looking towards a river. In a heartfelt message said she: "If only I could go back to this day with [you] still in my tummy, my son." The mother-of-two ended the sentence with a sad emoji.
