Kitten thrown against wall, kicked across room
Edmonton, AB (CA)Incident Date: Tuesday, Jan 2, 2007
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Desmond Tyson Peters
An Edmonton judge handed down a four-month jail term to a man who threw a cat against a wall and then kicked the animal across a room.
Provincial court Judge Robert Philp then gave Desmond Tyson Peters two months' credit for the time he spent in pretrial custody, leaving him with two months to serve.
"What you did to that animal is unspeakable, Mr. Peters," said Philp, noting people have pets for many reasons, including that animals give owners "unconditional" love. "And all they ask from us is to treat them kindly," said Philp, before accepting a joint submission from prosecutor Danielle Green and defence lawyer Marshall Gourlay.
Peters, 29, pleaded guilty to one count of causing death or injury to an animal without lawful excuse.
Court heard police responded to a north-end home about 2 a.m. on Jan. 2 after being told a "male at the residence was irate and throwing stuff around the apartment."
Officers found Peters sitting in the kitchen and determined he had been drinking all night and was very drunk. Court heard Peters began arguing with his pregnant common-law wife while their children were asleep.
"During the argument, he became irate, jumped up from the kitchen table and grabbed the five-month-old cat and threw it against the kitchen wall," said Green.
Just before throwing the cat, Peters said: "You want me to kill her, I'll kill her, then," said Green.
Court heard the toss resulted in the cat getting a broken femur and suffering a hernia and ruptured lung and liver.
Peters then "kicked the cat across the room, sat back down at the table and finished drinking," said Green.
Court also heard Peters said to police,"Don't you have better things to do than arrest me for killing a cat?"
Police took the injured cat to the Edmonton Emergency Vet Clinic where it was determined it had suffered life-threatening injuries, and it was euthanized.
Court heard the cat owner was "very distraught" about her pet being put down and described the animal as being like "a member of the family to her and her children." References
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