Cat killers' sentence to draw activists

by Gretchen Drummie -- Toronto Sun, January 30, 2002

TORONTO -- Two men who skinned a live cat will be sentenced in March before an audience of more than 100 people from across Canada and the U.S., predicts an animal rights activist.

Anthony Ryan Wennekers, 24, and Jessie Champlain Powers, 21, will be sentenced March 28, court heard yesterday. They pleaded guilty two weeks ago to cruelty to animals and mischief charges arising from the horrific June, 2001 crime.

'Bear Witness'

Anne Gibson, a member of the Toronto Coalition for Bill C15 Anti-Cruelty Legislation, said outside court that "people will be coming to bear witness to the sentencing."

The group has heard from interested people in both Canada and the U.S. who plan to attend, Gibson said.

Wennekers and Powers were arrested after a police raid of their Kensington Market-area apartment where a dead cat and more than 40 videos were discovered.

A 10-minute videotape shows the men coaxing the cat to chase a mouse and when it refuses the animal is put into a noose and hanged. They slash the cat's throat, stab it repeatedly with dental tools and disembowel it with a straight knife.