Senior Reporter
jesse.ramdeo@cnc3.co.tt
Prized horses were the targets of bandits who struck a horse stable along Racecourse Road in Carapo earlier this week.
Former champion jockey and horse trainer Edmund De Freitas told Guardian Media yesterday that three thoroughbred horses worth an accumulated value of nearly TT$100,000 were stolen from Bonanza Farm in as many weeks.
The 82-year-old horse enthusiast said the latest incident, which occurred early Wednesday morning, brought an employee face-to-face with death.
De Freitas said, “They came and knocked on the door and when he came out to see who it was, they held him up and beat him. They then locked him in a room and made off with two horses. He had to climb his way out and that is when I was alerted.”
De Freitas said the incidents have not only left him counting his losses but also trying to piece together how the heist unravelled without anyone being tipped off.
He said, “I don’t think they put them in vehicles, because horse trailers are very scarce here. It only has one on the track that one boy does use and I know it’s not him and I have a trailer, so I don’t know if they take the horses and carry them somewhere and kill them for meat, as the case might be. We do not know.”
De Freitas said the bandits also stole a bouncy castle used during children’s events he would often host, as well as other items. He said after nearly 70 years training and farming horses, the recent incidents have left him perplexed.
Guardian Media also spoke with other horse farm owners in the area. However, they did not express any concerns about the theft of horses in the area.
