The accused, during a serious attack on his girlfriend resulting in serious bodily harm, threw the victim’s cat out of the seventh floor window causing the cat multiple acute traumatic injuries, ultimately resulting in the cat being euthanized.
Mr Joy had a history of drug abuse and mental health issues and was intoxicated at the time of the attack. He was found guilty under section 445 of the Criminal Code.
In passing sentence, the court reviewed the case law on animal cruelty offences including R v Heifer, [2014] O.J. No. 2984, R v Kennedy, 2017 ONSC 817 and R v Dugalic, [2018] O.J. No. 5590 (see para 40). The accused was sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment for the section 445 offence and given a 10 year prohibition order.