The owner of a Shelton horse that was allegedly sexually assaulted last year is suing the man arrested in connection to the incident.
Police and Joan Flannery said Marian Wegiel trespassed on her property and sexually assaulted her horse, Indiana, on Oct. 18.
Wegiel was arrested for the incident in October and received a special form of probation for first-time offenders in May. He was accused of putting his hand inside the horse.
Now Flannery is taking the issue to civil court. She filed a one-page lawsuit Aug. 11 in Superior Court in Milford without the help of an attorney.
Flannery is asking for more than $5,000 in damages. She wants Wegiel to reimburse her for surveillance cameras she installed and broken locks that had to be repaired after the bizarre incident.
She said she has also suffered “extreme emotional distress” as a result.
“We’re always under stress,” Flannery said in a phone interview Thursday. “We’re always looking at our surveillance cameras. There’s always someone home.”
Flannery and Wegiel both live on Partridge Lane.
Article continues after lawsuit.
Wegiel’s attorney, Ralph Crozier, said his client is not liable for any of the claims Flannery makes in her lawsuit.
Flannery makes allegations in the complaint that Wegiel killed another one of Flannery’s horses, Chessy.
“How can you make a claim that your horse died years ago, and he somehow had something to do with it?” Crozier asked.
Crozier said he would recommend Wegiel pay Flannery, to avoid the costs of defending a case.
“I’ve recommended my client pay her a couple hundred bucks,” Wegiel said.
Flannery said she’d take $700.
That’s the cost of installing the surveillance cameras and new locks on her gates, Flannery said.
She had initially requested $700 when she first filed the complaint in small claims court in April.
But Crozier requested, and a Superior Court judge approved, moving the case from small claims court to the regular civil docket in Milford.
The case was moved and Flannery filed an extended complaint last week.
She’s still waiting to hear from Crozier about a possible settlement.
“He has not made me an offer yet,” Flannery said Thursday. “It’s all talk. And talk is not money.”
