“I’m sorry about what I’ve done. I didn’t mean to do it. It’s my fault. I’m sorry for what I’ve done to myself,” Vereen said during Wednesday’s court hearing.

Vereen was arrested in July after Barbara Kenley caught him entering the barn at Lazy B Stables in Longs, about 20 miles northeast of Myrtle Beach. She had been staking out the stable for more than a week after setting up a surveillance camera and videotaping Vereen’s assault on her 21-year-old horse named Sugar.

Kenley said she became suspicious because her horse was acting strange and getting infections, and she noticed things were moved around the barn and dirt was piled up near the horse’s stall.

It wasn’t the first time she’d caught Vereen. In late 2007, Kenley found him asleep in the hay after assaulting her horse. For that offense, he also pleaded guilty to buggery, received probation and had to register as a s3x offender.

On Wednesday, the judge sentenced Vereen to five years, but he will only have to serve three years behind bars as long as he successfully completes two years of probation. Vereen also was ordered to undergo additional mental treatment after he gets out and was told to stay away from Kenley’s stable.

Kenley told The Sun News of Myrtle Beach she was mostly happy with the verdict, but wished Vereen had gotten more time.

“I’ve been through hell for the last year and it’s caused a lot of hardship,” Kenley told the newspaper. “There’s a lot of ridicule and jokes going around about this thing. And a person can only take so much.”