Monday, July 31, 2017

Florida: Horse that police say Darius Galloway was raping was a rescue horse that had been part of an animal cruelty case

FLORIDA -- The horse that was sexually molested RAPED by a Valparaiso man had been a rescue from Alaqua Animal Refuge and had experienced severe neglect and abuse early in her life.

Alaqua founder Laurie Hood said Athena, an Arabian mare, came to Alaqua in 2013 with several other horses as part of an animal cruelty case. Hood said the horse was neglected and abused, but gentle and kind with her rescuers.

“She was just the perfect horse to go to a family with little girls and have them dote all over her,” Hood said.


The family with little girls adopted Athena and took good care of her, according to Hood, keeping her boarded in a reputable stable in Valparaiso and visiting her daily.

But according to the Valparaiso Police Department, beginning in April, a man trespassed onto horse stable property and began molesting RAPING Athena in her stall.

Darius Shamod Galloway, 26, was arrested July 26 after authorities found him in Athena’s stall with his shirt around his neck, pants sagging and fly open standing next to the horse. He admitted to police that he entered the stable “with the intent to pet, fondle and masturbate to Athena.”

Shamod also said that was the third time he had been to the stable to molest RAPE Athena. In previous instances, he used cooking oil as a lubricant.

Galloway was charged with engaging in sexual conduct with an animal, burglary of an unoccupied structure and petit theft in the first degree. Police say Galloway stole a trail camera the horse’s owners had set up after growing suspicious someone had been entering the stall and harming Athena.


Galloway was released Monday on $3,500 bond, and is scheduled to appear in court Sept. 6. No attorney is listed for him in court records.

Hood said she and other representatives from Alaqua plan to be at all of his court hearings.

“I think it’s important that the judge know that there’s a lot of people who take this very seriously,” Hood said. “I hope that he’ll get the stiffest penalty that he can, per law.”

Hood said the horse is healing physically and emotionally from her wounds.

(NWF Daily News - July 31, 2017)

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