Pit-bulls kill one, injure two

Sep 16, 2016 News

A Leonora, West Coast Demerara (WCD) woman ran from her home early yesterday after her four pit bulls ran out of the yard and killed a man before attacking two others in the village.
When this newspaper visited the scene early yesterday, two police ranks were observed waiting in front of the house for the arrival of the pit bulls’ owner, Marceline Small, the wife of Jarvis Small, who was sentenced to 96 years in prison for the 2010 murder of Neesa Gopaul.
Up to press time, ranks failed to locate the woman. Small had locked the pit-bulls in a kennel before leaving her home, preventing the police from getting access to the dogs.
Calls to the acting Divisional Commander, Leslie James, for a comment on the way forward went unanswered.
According to reports, the dogs ran out of the gate which was left opened late Wednesday night and created havoc in the village.
The victims were attacked some time between 03:00 hrs and 06:00 hrs yesterday. The body of the dead man was discovered shortly after 06:00 hrs with bite marks.
Villagers identified the dead man as “Boxers,” a vagrant who would wonder the streets. They believed that he was killed while sleeping on the street, a couple of houses from Small residence.
The injured persons have been identified as Wilmark Adams, a GUYSUCO worker of Cornelia Ida and Ramanand Bhikam, a security guard of Stewartville, West Coast Demerara (WCD). Both men were bitten on the legs.
According to Adams, he was riding to work when the four dogs rushed out of the yard and attacked him, forcing him to defend himself for more than an hour, armed with only a piece of wood.
Adams said that the wood did not scare the dogs away. He said that he screamed for help but no one came to his rescue.
“I see they (owner) had a window open and I screaming but no one came. After an hour, a car came and the dogs run back into the yard,” the estate worker said.
Adams was taken to the hospital where he then made a report. Meanwhile, around 05:00 hrs, Bhikam was returning home from work when three of the four dogs attacked him.
“I see the dogs in the streets but dogs does normally be in that area so I continued and when I reached close, the dogs attacked me. They bite up my food and I pulled a cutlass and chop them,” the guard said.
While the dogs were injured, none of them died. According to Bhikam, when the dogs ran back into the yard, he called out for the owner but no one answered. He then made a report to the police at Leonora before heading to the Cottage Hospital there. It was there that he learnt that he was not the only person attacked by the vicious animals.
It was while there that both men later learnt that the police picked up a body not far from where they were attacked.
One resident who has been identified as Mohan said that neighbours have made numerous reports about the dogs, since it was not the first time the dogs attacked persons.
Neighbours said that after the police removed the body, Small got into her vehicle and drove away. Shortly after, her brother went to the house and was eventually taken into custody.
When the police left, neighbours claimed that the woman’s father visited the house and washed the blood off the dogs and then penned them.
In 2008, a security guard, Charles Rupchand had his throat bitten open by nine dogs which include Pit bulls, a German Shepherd and mixed Breeds.
The owner of the dogs, an aircraft pilot was charged but was eventually freed.
Later that year, Government placed a ban on the importation of Pit Bulls.

2 thoughts on “Pit-bulls kill one, injure two”

bl_666 September 16, 2016 at 3:53 pm

“… neighbours have made numerous reports about the dogs, ”
This is ingrained police behaviour towards any complainant. Instead of investigating the complaint, which would mean them getting up, they instead start investigating you, and heaven have mercy on you if they’re not satisfied with the name of the shop where you last bought a sandwich, etc… I have long given up making any complaint about over-amplified noise or anything else.
dennis tiamfook September 16, 2016 at 5:37 pm

When you need help ,no one is around.I guess people were scared.