Old Harbour Bay resident Wesley Pryce holding the head of a goat slaughtered by thieves yesterday. - Rasbert Turner

Sixty-nine-year-old Icylin Morse cried bitterly when she looked at the carcasses of her goats which were slaughtered by thieves on yesterday.

"Lawd Jesus, a set dem set mi back as a coal mi burn fi buy mi goat dem. A yessiday one have kid and di odder one is still pregnant," Morse said.

Morse was among a group of residents who had gathered at the Old Harbour Police Station shortly after the arrest of 21-year-old Christopher Allen of Bourkesfield, Old Harbour Bay, St Catherine. Allen has been charged with praedial larceny.

strange sounds

Reports are that about 12:30 p.m. yesterday, residents of Old Harbour Bay heard strange sounds coming from where the goats were tied. To their dismay, upon checking, two goats were found hanging in bushes. Two men were observed taking the skin from the carcasses and a man on the lookout. An alarm was raised and a number of residents converged and chased the men. Two of them escaped in bushes. Allen was, however, held, beaten and subsequently handed to the police.

Other residents said the thieves have been plaguing the community for months.

"I work in the cold to buy the goat dem. December dem tief one and Monday dem tief one fi have kid next week," Wesley Pryce a resident said.

Meanwhile, Allen has been booked to appear in the Old Harbour Resident Magistrate's Court early next week.