Court watches cat skinning video

Video of men skinning cat prompts tears, disgust in Toronto court sentencing

by Nancy Carr -- Canadian Press, March 28, 2002

TORONTO (CP) -- Spectators in a packed courtroom wept, plugged their ears and hid their faces as a graphic video of three men skinning a cat was played in public for the first time Thursday.

Two of the men -- Jesse Power, 22, and Anthony Wennekers, 26 -- watched dispassionately from the prisoner's box as the tape was played at their sentencing hearing Thursday.

"The videotape makes it clear that what these men lack is an appreciation of the wrongfulness of their crime," Crown attorney Robin Flumerfelt said as he argued the men be sent to prison for 21/2 years -- the maximum possible sentence.

The pair pleaded guilty to mischief and cruelty to animals in January for the gruesome act that has stunned animal-rights activists and sparked threats against Power and his family.

Power and Wennekers were arrested last May when their roommate told police they had bragged about killing and eating a cat. The animal's remains were found in their downtown apartment.

Power's lawyer said the cat-skinning video was meant to be the second instalment of a video-art project for the Ontario College of Art and Design.

The first instalment showed Power slaughtering and eating a chicken, and was intended to remind people of the connection between killing animals and eating meat, lawyer Andrea Tuck-Jackson told court.

Power received an A for the chicken video.

The cat-skinning video showed Power, Wennekers and a third, unidentified man dangling a mouse in front of a stray cat in an unfurnished, dingy apartment.

When the cat failed to show interest in the mouse, one of the men hung the cat by its neck from a telephone cord suspended from the ceiling. As the cat struggled and meowed Power asked the two others, "Why don't we just kill it?"

A few minutes later, as the cat was being kicked and stabbed by the men, Power again asked, "Why don't we just slit its throat and let it bleed?"

In arguing for leniency, Tuck-Jackson said Power was an animal lover and strict vegetarian who grew up in rural Quebec and opposed hunting.

"He didn't intend to cause cruelty," she said of her client.

"He wanted to challenge those who would later view the video on their decision to eat meat."

She also told the court the men had admitted to ingesting a hallucinogenic drug known as jimson weed prior to killing the cat. She said the drug "can lead to bizarre and violent behaviour," which was totally unlike her client's usual demeanour.

Tuck-Jackson asked Judge Ted Ormston to allow Power to serve at least part of his sentence under house arrest.

But the Crown urged Ormston to sentence the two men, "who get their kicks from capturing and killing animals," to the maximum jail time allowed.

Wennekers's lawyer was to present arguments Tuesday.

If convicted, the two face a maximum sentence of six months in jail for the cruelty charge and two years in jail for mischief.

They could also face a fine of up to $2,000 and a two-year ban on owning animals.

Dozens of animal-rights activists who attended the hearing were unforgiving to Power, portrayed by his lawyer as a repentant, brilliant artist.

A spokeswoman for the Toronto Humane Society called the cat skinning "indefensible" and said Power and Wennekers should be jailed.

"I certainly would feel uncomfortable about (them serving time in the community) as would, I think, the hundreds of people who wrote letters and made phone calls the Humane Society and the Crown," said Amy White, a pet owner and vegetarian.

About a dozen activists waited outside court with their pets in tow, holding placards urging the federal government to pass a bill that would increase penalties for animal cruelty.

A spokesman for the Ontario Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said the six-month maximum jail sentence for animal abusers "just doesn't cut it."

Jim Pollock said the maximum jail term should be five years, and that abusers should face an unlimited fine and be forever banned from owning animals.