By Zoisa Fraser
Chairman of COPS Security Services, Gregory Gaskin, who is also an attorney-at-law, says that Wednesday’s mauling to death of security guard Charles Roopchand by a pack of vicious dogs highlights the urgent need for a change in legislation as it relates to such attacks and dog gaming.
While stressing the need for a strong message to be sent to all owners of vicious animals, Gaskin said that at the end of the day justice must be served since a life was lost and another person injured.
Meanwhile, Air Services Limited (ASL) pilot Ronny Totaram, the owner of the dogs captured by police, is still being held at the Sparendaam Police Station and according to police sources will be charged shortly. The animals are also in the custody of the police.
Roopchand, a 53-year-old security guard attached to COPS and a resident of 2C Area H, Lusignan, East Coast Demerara (ECD) was killed while Desire London, the wife of Bishop Philbert London and resident of Goedverwagting, ECD, was injured when the dogs attacked them on the Ogle Airstrip Road just after 6 am.
Roopchand who managed to jump a roadside trench but failed in his bid to escape the animals was on his way to work at a GT&T cell site farther down the road while London was on one of her regular morning walks. A post-mortem will be conducted on Roopchand’s remains today.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday midday, Gaskin told the media that the company is deeply concerned and aggrieved over what has happened to one of its longstanding and excellent workers.
He said Roopchand was killed by a pack of dogs that managed to break out of their confinement and attack persons who were on a public thoroughfare carrying on with their own business.
Referring to the pit bull breed, Gaskin said that there has been an increasing wave of attacks by these animals. He said that in the Roopchand incident he was advised that pit bulls were part of the attack.
Training
The attorney who described himself as a dog lover with over 17 dogs of different breeds said that dogs will reflect the treatment and training they receive at the hand of their owners. He said that if you give a dog love and affection that is what it will reflect.
“There is a culture that people are now training dogs to become lethal weapons and mercenaries of death… Pit bulls are particularly prone to this sort of behaviour,” he said adding that these dogs are bred for dog fighting.
Gaskin said that “once you have people training dogs to kill they will break out and kill.”
He said that gaming takes a dog and virtually turns it into a machine of death and it will turn against man and kill him.
He noted that dogs operate in packs so if there are five or more dogs together, they will be driven by each other’s agitation and this is something that owners of dogs must be conscious of.
Legislation
Pit bull attacks have drawn calls from various organizations and citizens alike for a change in legislation to directly address attacks on persons and in this regard inflict penalties on the owners of these animals, whether it is jail time or compensation packages.
COPS Security Service will be writing a letter to the Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA) asking them to advocate for a change in legislation, not only for pit bulls but the gaming of dogs.
Gaskin told reporters that in other countries such as Trinidad and Tobago, the US and Canada, pit bulls have been banned. He said that in these countries the ownership of these dogs is illegal, adding that in Trinidad such legislation was passed because of the body and jaw structure of these dogs and their predisposition to attack.
Gaskin stressed that the dog legislation in Guyana and the Summary Offences Act do not directly address attacks by dogs. He called for a proper charge to be instituted so as to send a message to all owners but said it would be up to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to instruct the police how to proceed with this case.
Gaskin said that several options including taking civil action are open to Roopchand’s relatives in which they can ask for damages which should cover medical expenses for Roopchand’s wife who is bedridden and to pay for the education of his two young sons, ages 12 and 10.
The company will be paying Roopchand’s funeral expenses and his three children and bedridden wife will be the beneficiaries of several insurance policies.
Not pit bulls
A close relative of Totaram told Stabroek News yesterday at his 99-100 Ogle residence that contrary to reports in the media the dogs were not pit bulls, but rather of mixed breed.
The woman who did not want to be named said that eight dogs and not nine were taken into custody by the police. She explained also that the dogs dug a hole under the fence to escape.
She said that the family had the animals for several years without any trouble although they would sometimes escape. She added that they never rushed at people but instead would “run up the road and come back.”
The woman said that her other son was going out when Desire London said that she was bitten.
The woman said that many crimes have happened near her home and so she and her family are afraid.
“That is why he has these dogs,” she said, adding that several times thieves had managed to jump over their fence but were never attacked by her dogs.
“He (the owner) is not even eating and we are really sorry for what happened,” the relative said. She said that she had visited both families and they were not angry or hostile but rather sympathetic with her. She said that they offered assistance to Roopchand’s relatives but they said that they will speak about that a little later.
Reports indicated that the dogs had somehow managed to escape from their owner’s yard and were seen running around in a large pasture nearby. They first attacked Roopchand and he managed to jump over a drain that was half filled with water. However, he was pulled down by the dogs in another drain a few feet away.
Just then London approached, unaware of what was occurring and two of the dogs turned on her. They first attacked at her legs, throwing her to the ground. She prayed and put up a fight with her hands. The dogs withdrew completely when former government minister Dr Dale Bisnauth approached with a stick.
London was subsequently taken to the hospital by her husband, while Roopchand’s body was taken to Lyken’s/Newburg Funeral home.
Members of the police force’s canine team later arrived on the scene and captured the dogs.
