Man escapes prosecution for animal sex

10 March 2004

AMSTERDAM — A man caught having sex with a pony cannot be prosecuted because bestiality is not illegal in the Netherlands, it was reported Wednesday.

There has been a string of unsolved vicious sex attacks on horses in the east of the Netherlands in recent years.

Newspaper De Telegraaf said pony owners Fred and Ria Herszkowicz entered the stall containing their three-year-old pony Bella and discovered a 65-year-old man with his trousers around his ankles.

He ran off but was caught a short time later by police. He had to be released again because the animal had no visible injuries.

Under Dutch law bestiality is not a crime as long as the animal is not hurt. The Public Prosecutor (OM) has confirmed the man cannot be prosecuted in this case despite the fact he was found interfering with an animal in a locked stable.

When news of the man’s release broke, the populist LPF party and the Socialist Party called for bestiality to be made illegal.

Fred Herzkowicz has said that Bella is a bit “jittery” as a result of the incident. A vet examined the pony and did not find any physical injuries. A swab was taken to preserve DNA evidence of the incident.

A stool, the leg of a chair and some garden implements were also found in the stable after the man fled.

In recent years, there have been a number of mysterious attacks on horses and ponies in the east of the country, particularly around Enschede. In some cases animals have been mutilated and had implements pushed inside them.

Subject: Dutch news