A Hout Bay man who recently caused an uproar in the community for beating his rescue dog and standing at the traffic circle in Victoria Road wearing an orange wig and blue mask, says he is sorry for abusing his dog.
Brian Waters admitted to abusing his dog Toby and says he knows it was wrong and he would like to apologise to the community of Hout Bay for his behaviour (“Upset over ‘dog beater’”, Sentinel June 3).
He is willing to do community service at Domestic Animal Rescue Group (DARG) or any other animal shelter to make up for it.
“I let him down. I rescued him and then abused him and I feel terrible about it,” he said.
Toby was removed from his house on Wednesday May 18 by Darg after a tenant living at the same premises sent Darg a Facebook message informing them of the abuse. Later that day, his other dog, Daisy, was also removed from the premises.
Mr Waters was not named in the article as he could not be reach- ed for comment but phoned the Sentinel on Tuesday June 7 to give his side of the story.
Since the incident last month, Mr Waters could be seen at the traffic circle near Spar and the police station either playing his guitar with a note reading “I have less rights than my dogs” pasted on it or holding up a sign reading: “Re-place my tools and lost goods.”
He explains that his appearances at the traffic circles really had little do with losing his dogs and was the only way he could make his voice heard.
Mr Waters, who is a visual effects artist, has lived in Hout Bay for the past nine years and said in recent months his life has spiraled out of control.
He has recently been evicted from his Tierboskloof home and lost his job after his equipment, a Mac Book pro 15” and several other computer accessories, were taken from him in a dispute and then later returned in a damaged state. Being a visual ef-fects artist, his computer was his livelihood.
He says the dispute traumatised his 11-year-old daughter and he was concerned about how it affected her.
Attempts to get his job back have been fruitless as the companies he previously worked for said they were unable to help him if he does not have any equipment. Replacing the equipment will cost more than R50 000.
This has caused huge financial strain and he says as the noose tightened around his neck, he became very frustrated as every attempt to get his equipment back in the condition it was in, had been a struggle.
And after voicing his struggles on social me-dia, he was banned from Hout Bay’s community Facebook group, Hout Bay Organised.
“It felt like my dogs had more rights than me as everyone was concerned about them and no one was willing to do anything about the fact that my daughter was traumatised,” he said.
He indicated that he had no history of violence and was not on any medication.
Mr Waters said his days at the traffic circle are over and he wants the community of Hout Bay to know that his state of mind was due to being frustrated.
High Court ap-pointed facilitator to Darg, Ryno Engelbrecht, said Darg has not received a formal apology from Mr Waters and Toby is currently still under treatment.
He added that Darg does not wish to comment any further on the matter.
