It took more than three years and a car crash in Nelson, B.C., to finally put a man behind bars for a brutal Christmas Day attack on a cat.
The B.C. SPCA says David Wayne Canaday has pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and was sentenced to 30 days in jail for the fatal Dec. 25, 2006, beating.
SPCA Special Provincial Const. Erika Paul says Canaday was visiting friends in Duncan, on Vancouver Island, and attacked Goober the cat while the family was out.
Paul says blood spatter throughout the house, claw marks on the walls and windowsills, as well as holes in the walls caused by a broomstick, indicated Goober was chased and beaten in a violent struggle.
Canaday moved to Penticton and skipped a court date in that Okanagan city in 2007, leading to an arrest warrant that was finally carried out earlier this month as police in Nelson, B.C., investigated an unrelated car accident.
The SPCA says the jail term, as well as a court-ordered psychiatric assessment and prohibition on owning pets, means the court has recognized the need to keep animals safe from Canaday.
