ROME - It emerged from police sources on Monday that the father of baby Giulia, a nine-month-old little girl, who was attacked while sleeping in her parents’ bed by the family pitbull on Saturday night, was investigated for manslaughter.

 After an autopsy ordered on the girl's body, the Prosecutor of Nola decided that the father should be amongst the current suspects facing charges for his failure to supervise the animal. 

 He was under investigation, while the police were continuing to investigate his version of events. He has not been formally charged. 

  The 25-year-old father, who was subjected to toxicological tests, told the investigators that he did not notice anything because both he and Giulia were sleeping while they were waiting for his wife to get back from work.

 He claimed that he neither heard the dog, nor the screams of Giulia whose face and head were in the mouth of the pitbull, which was later discovered to be un-microchipped, as she was being mauled to death.

 In the hospital, immediately after the tragedy, the father had initially told the health workers that this was an attack by a stray dog. 

 This version then changed in his account given to investigators, when he finally admitted that Giulia had been attacked by his pitbull. 

 The other dog that they kept at home, a small mutt, was registered as being at the address. 

 The mother, who at the time of the attack was at work in a nearby pizzeria, said that Tyson, the Pitbull, had never shown signs of aggression towards the little girl and not even towards other people. 

 The neighbours, who believe that the animal was indeed a problem, which is now being held along with the other dog in a kennel, have very different opinions.

 The residents of the Ice Snei district in Naples, where the parents lived, came forward on Monday about an reported attack on another little dog that took place last summer. 

 But the A.S.L., the local health authority, confirmed that there was no complaint formally made. 

 The two dogs will now be subjected to several exams, to check for any remains of the little girl.

 While the circumstances surround this case may be concerning, what is most clear is that this has been an unthinkable tragedy for the young parents. 

  This follows another serious dog attack this week in which an 84 -year-old man, Salvatore Maggiore, died after being attacked in the countryside of Bagheria, Palermo by two dogs that caused him deep wounds.

 Both animals seized were also un-microchipped.

  The victim's family members had asked the owner several times to keep them inside a fence.

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