Man charged in cat's torture, death

Police say arrest aided by Web site

by Nick Pron, Toronto Star, March 13, 2003

A 21-year-old drifter facing charges of torturing and killing a cat made a brief court appearance yesterday amid heightened security.

Matthew Kaczorowski, wearing orange-coloured prison garb, looked on glumly from the prisoner's box as prosecutor Robin Flumerfelt told a judge that he faces charges of mischief, theft under $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime.

The case was remanded until tomorrow for a bail hearing.

The public gallery was packed for the accused man's first appearance in the emotionally charged case, and extra court officers were on hand. Two other men have already been convicted and jailed in the case, in which the cat was skinned alive. The animal's torture was filmed for an art project.

Most of the spectators at Old City Hall were animal rights activists, including Katie Woodward, whose Web site is being credited by police with helping to locate a suspect. He was seen in the video torturing the cat, which was hanging by its neck.

The wanted man, seen smiling on the videotape, his head covered by a hood, disappeared shortly after the video was made, in May, 2001.

"I've got cats of my own. I saw the mutilation video and it was so horrible and I just couldn't stand by and let nothing be done," Woodward said later, explaining why she started the Web site with her own money. [Evidently Katie was unaware that Freedom for Animals had already been looking for Matt for a year before her efforts began.] The site displayed a wanted man's face taken off the tape.

Kaczorowski was arrested in Vancouver last weekend and brought back to Toronto by detectives Gordon Scott and John Margetson of 14 Division.

Scott said later that the charges of theft and possession of property obtained by crime pertain to the cat, which was snatched off the streets in Kensington Market and taken to a rooming house near Queen St. W. and Bathurst St.

Since the cat had been a family pet and not a stray, detectives decided to lay the two extra charges, Scott said.

The mischief charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison upon conviction.

In the earlier court case, Jesse Michael Power and Anthony Ryan Wennekers pleaded guilty to one count each of animal cruelty and mischief.

Last April, Power received a 90-day sentence, to be served on weekends, 18 months of house arrest and three years' probation. A crown appeal is scheduled to be heard at the Ontario Court of Appeal on May 28.

Wennekers was sentenced to the time he had served in custody awaiting trial, 10 1/2 months.

The snuff video made of the cat's death has been a focal point in a campaign by animal activists to persuade the federal government to toughen up animal-cruelty laws.

"We believe the Canadian people want to see this," Anne Gibson, with the Toronto Coalition for AntiCruelty Legislation, told reporters about a proposed law.

Bill C-10, before a parliamentary committee, calls for the maximum penalty to rise to five years in prison from six months.