Culprits who abused Riding for Disabled horses escape prosecution

Despite the viral Snapchat video of the culprits who attempted to catch Whanganui's Riding for Disabled (RDA) horses, no prosecution has been brought.

In November last year two horses were injured by a group of people who got into RDA's paddock and tried to catch the animals.

The video, which was plastered over social media, showed a snippet of the incident with one horse trying to flee as a man held on to its tail.

RDA chairman Ray Stevens said Facebook users provided names for some of the people in the video, which were passed on to police.

"All we know is that they are under 20 years old and known to the police," he said.

But RDA manager Wendy Sellars told the Chronicle on Monday that no one was prosecuted because police said there wasn't enough evidence.

A police spokesperson confirmed this saying officers had made several inquiries into the incident, including talking to the person who uploaded the footage on to social media.

"It was established they did not know the offender and CCTV footage from the premises did not show the offender either.

"Police have exhausted all current investigation options and have advised the victims of this," the police spokesperson said.

Mrs Sellars said it was unfortunate the people got away with it, even with the video that was posted on social media.

"It would have been good if they had done some work here and seen the damage they had caused."

She said the horses had recovered after a long holiday and will be reassessed for training within the next week.

Police encourage anyone who may have information about this incident to contact Whanganui police on 06 349 0600 or give information anonymously via Crimestoppers on 08000 555 111.