Billings man pleads guilty to strangling girlfriend, stabbing and stomping kitten

MONTANA -- A 23-year-old Billings man admitted in court Friday that he choked his girlfriend and hit her with a rock and, in a separate incident, attacked her kitten and threw it against a wall.

Thomas Joseph Godwin pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and aggravated animal cruelty, all felonies.

According to charging documents, the animal cruelty charge stems from an incident on Aug. 31, 2012, when Godwin threw a woman’s kitten against a wall, stomped on it and then stabbed the kitten with scissors because (according to the sadist) the animal had bitten him.

The kitten required surgery for its injuries.

On Oct. 27, 2012, Godwin attacked the same woman and choked her until she passed out, according to charging documents. The woman said that when she regained consciousness, Godwin was still grasping her neck and began striking her in the head with a large rock, court records state.

Godwin is being held in the county jail on $75,000 bond. His sentencing hearing has been set for March 4.

(Billings Gazette - Dec 6, 2013)