What was supposed to be a happy visit to a house where his grandmother was housesitting in Tacarigua on Sunday took a tragic and deadly turn for the Lewis family when their youngest member Amaziah Lewis, 4, was mauled to death by the grandmother's pet rottweiler.
Police said Lewis was at the Savannah Drive, home at around 11 am when he was attacked by the dog and killed.
Residents called the police who went to the scene and shot and killed the dog.
Newsday visited the home on Sunday afternoon and spoke with Lewis' aunt Rechaeline Stewart who is also the daughter of the dog's owner who said while she was not at home at the time of the incident, she was told what happened.
Stewart said Lewis was in the house while the relative was cleaning the yard at the time.
[caption id="attachment_912637" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Friends and relatives of Amaziah Lewis' mother gather around her car to console her outside K Allen's and Sons Funeral Directors in Arima on Sunday. Lewis was killed by his grandmother's rottweiler earlier that day. - Photo by Angelo Marcelle[/caption]
"She felt his (Lewis) presence behind him and when she looked back she saw him and told him to go back inside.
"She didn't know the dog got out of the pen, we don't know how he came out, but the child is accustomed being around dogs because apparently he has a dog where he lives so he's thinking the dog isn't going to do him anything.
"The dog grabbed him from the back of his neck and attacked him, so she tried her best to get the dog off of him.
"She screamed until someone from next door heard her and they started throwing things in the yard to distract the dog."
[caption id="attachment_912638" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Amaziah Lewis' aunt Rechaeline Stewart speaks to media at the house at which the four-year-old boy was killed by his grandmother's dog on Sunday. - Angelo Marcelle[/caption]
Eventually workers renovating a nearby house were able to scare off the dog allowing Lewis to be taken out of the yard.
Stewart said the grandmother was unable to speak with reporters when Newsday visited the house as she was trying to calm down after the attack.
She said the grandmother usually housesits for the owner of the house who is in Tobago. She usually brings the dog while she is visiting the house.
Stewart also said the dog has been in the family since it was a puppy and was usually playful with visitors but maintained that like any other animal it could be unpredictable.
"I'm not going to lie when I visit I would stand by the gate if he's outside I would try and pet him to see the mood he's in because I have two little boys as well that also visit here and they're petrified of him so they won't venture close to him.
"It's an animal you don't know it's frame of mind, I can't answer the question because I'm not a dog person."
She said for now she was trying to care for her mother as best as she could after the accident.
"I have to monitor her because this is something she will blame herself for even though it'
