Fern Brown, the woman who allegedly loosed two pit bulls on children in the Tucville area last Friday, yesterday appeared in the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court and the matter was subsequently settled.
The 37-year-old vendor who sells food and other items in front of the Tucville Primary School pleaded not guilty to two charges of being the owner of vicious dogs and suffering them to be at large without being muzzled.
Brown’s lawyer explained to the court that his client was not the owner of the dogs and they belonged to her nephew. According to the attorney, Brown had no control over the dogs and it was arranged for them to be removed immediately after the incident.
The dogs were moved to Suriname, Brown said.
One of the victims of the pit bulls, Faye Tinch, told the court that she lives close to the accused and on the day in question she was sitting on her stairs and saw the entire episode unfold.
Tinch said some children were playing cricket and their ball accidentally got knocked into Brown’s yard. The children went to retrieve the ball from the yard after they got no response from Brown, she said.
Tinch further explained that Brown was annoyed by this and she went downstairs and let the dogs loose on the children who managed to escape. Later, Tinch said, two employees of the Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA), who were also present in court yesterday, arrived and asked to be directed to where the owner of the dogs lived. The woman said she escorted the employees to Brown’s house and it was there she saw Pluvair Belfield being attacked and she was later attacked herself along with the GSPCA employees.
Brown explained to Principal Magistrate Melissa Robertson-Ogle that she had compensated the victims and she was further ordered to compensate one of the GSPCA employees before the matter was finally settled.
