Police have arrested Ivan Dash, a 28-year-old labourer of Vergenoegen, East Bank Essequibo, who allegedly killed an injured horse at about 9.30 am on 2023/08/07 on the Vergenoegen sea dam.
Dash told the Police that his horse was crossing over a bridge when one of the boards broke, and the horse’s back leg fell through. This resulted in the back right leg of the horse sustaining severe injuries, the police said. Dash said the horse was in visible pain and groaning loudly, and because of this, he went to the seawall and shot the horse in the head, resulting in the animal’s death. He later burnt the carcass. The police said that Dash gave a written statement, under caution, about what transpired. When questioned about where he got the firearm from and whether he was the holder of a firearm licence, Dash said he does not own a firearm, nor is he the holder of a firearm licence. According to Dash, when he saw the horse was seriously injured and groaning, he went to one of his friends (name withheld), who is a licensed firearm holder. Dash claimed that he and the friend proceeded to the Vergenoegen seawall, and after his friend hesitated to shoot the horse, he took the gun from his friend and shot the animal in the head.
