Crown asks for harsher sentence for man convicted in cat mutilation

Canadian Press, Wednesday, May 28, 2003

TORONTO -- A Crown lawyer asked Wednesday for a harsher sentence to be handed down to a man convicted of animal cruelty for skinning and killing a cat.

Calling a trial judge's decision a "fundamental misconception," lawyer Jamie Klukach told the Ontario Court of Appeal that the sentence of 18-months house arrest and 90 days in custody on weekends given to Jamie Power, 22, was too lenient.

"If this does not qualify as the worst kind of cruelty to animals, it is difficult to conceive what might," Klukach said in court.

Power and Anthony Wennekers, 25, pleaded guilty to mischief and animal cruelty for participating in the May 2001 torture and killing of a stray cat. They were convicted and sentenced in April 2002.

The Crown wants Power to serve the rest of his sentence in jail, not at home. Wennekers has already served his sentence of 22-months.

Power's lawyer, Mark Sandler, argued that he has served almost all of his time and has possibly served 80 days more than his original sentence due to a parole officer's error.

"If anything, that exceeds the existing jurisprudence and appropriate tariff on cruelty to animals," Sandler told the Judge.

The three-member panel of judges reserved decision on the appeal of Power's sentence.

Meanwhile, a group of animal rights activists gathered outside the court to call for tougher penalties for animal cruelty and to support Bill C-10, an update to Canada's animal cruelty laws currently before the Senate.

The sentencing of Power and Wennekers followed a trial in which a gruesome videotape of the men's crimes was played to the courtroom, bringing spectators to tears.

It showed three young men stabbing, cutting, skinning and eventually killing the stray cat.

Power's lawyer told the court last April that 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.

The third man seen in the videotape, Matthew Kaczorowski, whose whereabouts was unknown by police until March 2003, was arrested in Vancouver and brought back to Toronto. He will be sentenced after the Ontario Court of Appeal hears the appeal of Power's sentence.