A 39-year-old man was sentenced on Thursday by the Vesoul criminal court to a 10-month suspended prison sentence for stealing, torturing and killing cats near Vesoul in 2019. Between March and July 2019, fourteen cat owners had filed complaints at the Vesoul police station after the disappearance of their animal. The investigators had identified this "serial killer of cats", under reinforced curatorship and known to the justice system for drug use.
Stabbed with a knife or beaten to death with an iron bar
In police custody, the 30-year-old had admitted having stolen several cats which he captured using a collar leash. Once in his apartment, the cats were stabbed with a knife or beaten to death with an iron bar or against a radiator. The remains were then left in a trash can.
Psychiatric expertise made it possible to determine disorders and a significant impairment in discernment at the time of the facts. The court, which followed the requisitions of the prosecution, also issued a ban on keeping an animal for the accused, found guilty of theft, attempted theft and serious ill-treatment or cruelty to an animal.
Four animal rights associations had brought civil action
Three individuals and four animal welfare associations - the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, Adopt a cat, the 30 million friends Foundation and Boule de Poils - had brought civil action.