Feature ArticleDecember 19, 2001
LAND O'LAKES NewsWeb HomeContact Us
Arden pony shooter sent to jailby David BrisonRichard Vanness, 33, of Belleville, who shot a family pony from a car while he was out on a drunken jack-lighting spree, and then cut the ponys head off with an axe, was given a seven-month jail sentence and banned from hunting and fishing for ten years. He was also fined $5,000.
Vanness told a Kingston court on December 9 that he thought he was shooting a bear. He also told the court that his father told him he had to get rid of the bullet.
The pony, a three-year-old pinto named Sunday, belonged to Barb and Derek Matson of Arden and their children Chase, 6, Cody, 3, and four-month-old Cash. The children have had difficulty understanding how anyone could do something so stupid. They also find it hard to believe that their Sunday is gone forever.
Barb Matson, in a powerful statement to the court which was directed at Vanness, let him know in no uncertain terms that his actions had devastated their family. The judge, Justice Rommel Masse, the Crown attorney, Gerard Laarhuis, and Vanness own lawyer, Clyde Smith, all agreed that decapitating the pony to cover his tracks was unconscionable. Masse called it disgusting; Laarhuis said that it was selfish and cowardly; and Smith described it as indescribably stupid.
Vanness father Alvin, who lives in Arden near the scene of the crime, disposed of the ponys head by dumping it in Buck Lake. He also burned the axe that was used.
The Vanness family have given the Matson family $1,000 to replace the pony.
A tip to Crimestoppers led to the arrest. There were rewards offered by a local Arden group and from the Canadian Humane Society.
