AR-News: (CA) Crown sought max sentence for cat torturer Matt

[Barry Kent MacKay]

Matt

http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Law/2003/05/28/97925-cp.html
Man should get maximum for torturing, killing cat on videotape: Crown

TORONTO (CP) - A man who pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and mischief for
the videotaped torture and killing of a cat should get the maximum sentence,
a Crown lawyer told court Friday.

Robin Flumerfelt said Matthew Kaczorowski, 21, should receive the maximum
six-month jail sentence for animal cruelty and a conditional sentence of 15
to 18 months for mischief for his part in the killing.

"Cruelty was the motive," said Flumerfelt, who played a 15-minute videotape
of the incident showing Kaczorowski and two other men torturing and skinning
the cat alive with knives and dental tools before finally beheading the
animal.

"The pleasure Mathew Kaczorowski took by saying things like 'look at his
guts' and kicking the cat makes that perfectly clear," Flumerfelt said.

Defence lawyer Daniel Brodsky told court Kaczorowski was a promising artist
and a recovering heroin addict who had been living on the streets of
Winnipeg and Vancouver since the age of 14.

"Matthew deeply regrets what he has done," Brodsky said.

"He knows today he should have walked away."

The 21-year-old drifter had been the subject of a nationwide manhunt by
police, aided by animal activists, after the video was made in May 2001.

He was spotted in Vancouver in March, arrested and brought back to Toronto.

A year ago, Jesse Power, 22, and Anthony Wennekers, 25, pleaded guilty to
mischief and animal cruelty for participating in the killing of the cat,
which had been taken from the street to a downtown rooming house.
Power's 90-day sentence, to be served on weekends, followed by 18 months of
house arrest, has been appealed by the Crown.

During his trial, Power's lawyer told court the art student and one-time
vegetarian intended the video to be an art project showing that it was
hypocritical for society to allow the killing of some animals for their meat
but not others.
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For information on the Kensington cruelty case in which 3 men videotaped
themselves torturing a cat, please join the kensingtoncruelty email list. Go
to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kensingtoncruelty/ to join now!

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Barry Kent MacKay
Senior Programme Coordinator: Canada
Animal Protection Institute 
www.api4animals.org