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CONVICTED: Was justice served?
more information on voting
When you vote, you are voting on whether or not the punishment fit the crime, NOT on the severity of the case itself. If you feel the sentence was very weak, you would vote 1 star. If you feel the sentence was very strong, you would vote 5 stars.
Please vote honestly and realistically. These ratings will be used a a tool for many future programs, including a "People’s Choice" of best and worst sentencing, DA and judge "report cards", and more. Try to resist the temptation to vote 1 star on every case, even if you feel that 100 years in prison isn’t enough.
Case #5062 Rating: 2.6 out of 5
Thursday, Oct 31, 1996
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Daniel Potvin
Daniel Potvin, 35, of Vanier threw the kitten against a wall, put him in a garbage bag and whacked him against a telephone pole outside his LaFontaine Avenue apartment. The injured kitten was then thrown into a dumpster and left for dead. The abuse was Potvin's reaction to the four-month old kitten called Grommet scratching him.
Potvin pleaded guilty to willfully causing unnecessary injury to an animal.
He was given a $190 fine, one year probation and banned from owing a cat for a year.
Grommet was saved by some teenagers who witnessed Potvin attacking the kitten.
Tyler Galaski, 17, a witness said "He had a green garbage bag, and he swung it against the telephone pole. We heard the cat meow or whine. Then he went to the yard to the dumpster and tossed the bag in."
When Galaski picked up the bag out of the dumpster, the gray and white cat was found to be wounded, frazzled and barely breathing.
The teen called 911 and the police arrested Daniel Potvin.
Potvin said he tried to kill the cat against the telephone pole to put it out of its misery.
The veterinarin said he had as sore foreleg, blood discharage in his left eye and head trauma.
The 911 dispatcher who took Galaski's call for help offered to give Grommet a temporary foster home while he recovered from his injuries. Nine months later, his weight has doubled to seven pounds and he has a permanent home with the dispatcher who decided to keep him.
References
- Ottawa Sun - Aug 30, 1997