North Carolina: Hamlet police still trying to locate next of kin for man killed by his own dogs

NORTH CAROLINA -- Every morning at 5:30, the elderly man who lived at 308 W. Hamlet Ave. would take his five dogs for a walk: First, one pair. Then another. Then, by itself, his energetic black-and-white pit bull.

Note that he would have to take the Pit Bull by itself for walks, to control it.

Early Saturday afternoon, the pit bull and one other dog apparently killed him and police have had little luck finding the relatives of a man mauled to death by his dogs Saturday.

The closest they have come is the children next door, one of whom tried to save the man and all of whom called him “grandpa.”

Police Chief Scott Waters said Monday that investigators had checked with the Adult Services division of the Richmond County Department of Social Services, the Veterans Administration and Walmart, from which the man was supposed to have retired. All of the inquiries came up empty.

Police theorize they can find relatives if the man made a will and if it was filed with the county. That could lead them to an attorney who might know something. But it’s a long shot.

“I’ve never seen anything like it … in my whole career,” said Waters, who was at the man’s house at 308 W. Hamlet Ave. in the wake of the attack. “We’re running into a lot of obstacles” and may have to release the man’s name in order to find his relatives.

What Waters does know is that “that little kid’s a hero.”

Nine-year-old Kanorie Parnell was in the yard with his neighbor when the man was attacked.

“I threw bricks at the dogs to try and get them off of him,” Kanorie said Saturday, as police and sheriff’s officers worked to corral the dogs. “Only they wouldn’t get off of him.

“They bit his neck. He’s got a hole in it.”

Kanorie jumped over the fence into his own yard when he saw his efforts were futile.

Waters said Monday that “I just thank God above that the dogs didn’t turn on (Kanorie).”

Kanorie’s mother, April, said Saturday that her family and the neighbor had become like family. He took her children to the bus stop in the morning and escorted them home after school. They all ate meals together sometimes. She said the man was 69 years old and had a daughter who lived elsewhere.

Last Friday, Waters saw the man with one of Kanorie’s siblings — he was taking the child home from a neighborhood park. When Waters talked with the man, the child alongside him called him “grandpa.”

“It’s a hard thing to deal with,” Waters said of his own response to the death. To see the man being so kind to a child one day and dead the next was difficult, he said.

The deceased had five dogs, which he walked every morning.

Early Saturday, two of the dogs — a black-and-white pit bull and another dog — got into a fight. The owner broke them apart, throwing punches.

Later, when the man went back into the yard, the dogs attacked.

Hamlet Police and Richmond County sheriff’s deputies corralled the pit bull but had to leave the man lying in the yard, under a sheet, until they could be sure where the other dogs were.

Officers had corralled the pit bull by 1:15 p.m., using a lasso and bar to keep the animal from biting them. Locked into the bed of a windowless box on a pickup bed, the animal occasionally thrashed against the sides.

At one point, they thought about closing off the street, in case they needed to shoot the second dog.

About 45 minutes after bringing out the pit bull, officers brought the dead man out on a stretcher.

By 3:30 p.m., all of the dogs had been captured and been taken to the Richmond County Animal Shelter.

(Your Daily Journal - Nov 6, 2017)

Earlier:

• North Carolina: Elderly man mauled, killed by his Pit Bull and "mixed breed" dog in Richmond County

North Carolina: Elderly man mauled, killed by his Pit Bull and "mixed breed" dog in Richmond County

NORTH CAROLINA -- An elderly man was mauled and killed by two dogs in Richmond County while a boy threw bricks to get the dogs off the man, the Hamlet police chief confirmed.

The attack, by a Pit Bull and mixed breed dog, happened just before 12:30 p.m. Saturday on West Hamlet Avenue near the intersection of High Street.

The man owned five dogs, including the two that attacked him. Both dogs were taken to an animal shelter.

Authorities said a little boy next door tried throwing bricks to get the dogs off the man, who lived alone with the five dogs.

The man's name has not been released.

Hamlet Police Chief Scott Waters said the man walked his dogs every morning.

The kids next door called him "grandpa."

 

 

(WSOC - Nov 6, 2017)

Michigan: Owner of dogs who mauled Detroit boy to death: I'm sorry

MICHIGAN -- he owner of four pit bulls that killed a 4-year-old Detroit boy directly apologized to the boy's mother in court on Thursday, adding that he was feeling the loss, too.

Geneke Lyons got teary-eyed as he told Lucille Strickland that he wished he could turn back the hands of time to save 4-year-old Xavier.

Xavier Strickland was walking with his mother in December when they were attacked by the dogs. Police had to shoot the animals to free the boy's body.

Strickland said she wakes up every morning and kisses a picture of her son.

“I think about him every day,” she said. “That’s a part of me that was taken that I cannot get back.”

Strickland said Xavier was young, but had an old soul.

“He was a true pioneer in our family,” she said. “All my children are my heart, but that baby right there, he was the most beautiful, loving, caring. If he knew something was wrong with you, he would walk up and give you a hug … And you would be alright.”

 

 

Lyons wasn't home at the time. But prosecutors said he should be held responsible because the dogs weren't under control. The evidence included security video of the fatal mauling, which left some jurors in tears.

Lyons was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter last month. Judge James Callahan sentenced him to five years of probation. The first year will be served in the Wayne County jail under a work release program.

After Lyons apologized, Strickland said she accepted it.

"I'm really sorry," he said. "I've been going through the loss of Xavier. I haven't bounced back since the day it happened. This is something that is going to stick with me for the rest of my life."

Lyons said he didn't raise the dogs to be vicious.

"If I could turn back the hands of time, I would love to help you through your loss," he said.

Lyons was sentenced to 1 year in jail and 5 years probation. He will be able to receive a work release during his probation period.

(WDIV Detroit - June 30, 2016)

Earlier:

• ‘They just ate him,’ mom says about dog attack on son
• Disturbing details revealed about deadly dog attack in Detroit
• Michigan: Owner of pit bulls Geneke Lyons guilty in death of Detroit boy, 4

South Africa: Eleven-year-old boy mauled by Pit Bull, whose owner blames him for the attack

SOUTH AFRICA -- When Katlego Mokoena saw a pit bull jumping over a security wall and rushing towards him on Friday, he knew his life was in danger.

The 11-year-old from Lotus Gardens in Tshwane ran as fast as he could but the dog was too fast for him.

However, passing motorist Charles Makhopa (22) saw what was happening and helped the boy, who was being torn to pieces by the vicious dog.

“I was in the car when I heard the boy screaming. The dog was savagely biting him. I was also scared of the dog but I decided to throw bricks at it to make it stop biting the boy.

“Other residents joined me and the dog ran home,” said Charles.

Katlego was rushed to Kalafong Hospital in Atteridgeville.

OWNER OF THE DOG SWEARS IT'S NEVER BEEN VICIOUS BEFORE -- AND BLAMES THE VICTIM

The owner of the dog, who refused to give her name, said she didn’t know how it managed to get off its leash.

“My dog has never shown signs of violence before. It has never escaped in the past. It might have been provoked by the boys.”

Katlego’s angry dad Patrick (47), said the dog owner must pay the boy’s medical bills.

“We are always scared when we walk the streets. The dog owners don’t lock their pets away or have proper security to stop them from escaping.

“Their wall isn’t high enough either.

“My son was almost killed. The dog damaged his left eye and he might lose sight in it,” he said.

CPF chairman Vasi Naidu said they were doing everything in their power to get justice for Katlego.

(Daily Sun - June 17, 2016)

Michigan: Owner of pit bulls Geneke Lyons guilty in death of Detroit boy, 4

MICHIGAN -- In a fatal pit bull attack case that triggered public outrage, a jury today convicted a dog owner of involuntary manslaughter for the death of a 4-year-old boy mauled by three dogs in December in front of his mother.

The nine-minute-long attack was captured on surveillance video, which jurors viewed during the weeklong trial that included testimony from police, neighbors and the child's mother, whose son was pulled away from her by a pack of dogs while the two were walking to a neighborhood school.

Geneke Antonio Lyons, 42, was also convicted of possessing dangerous animals causing death. He had been charged with second-degree murder, but that charge was dismissed by Wayne County Circuit Judge James Callahan the day before the jury deliberated, a courtroom official said.

Callahan told the courtroom after the verdict that, "In the court’s opinion, the defendant was overcharged … to begin with." He allowed Lyons to be released on bond pending his sentencing, saying that his crimes did not pose a threat to the community. Yet he did forbid Lyons to have any contact with dogs.

Prosecutors did not agree with the decision. "We believe that our proofs showed proof beyond a reasonable doubt for second-degree murder," said Maria Miller, a Wayne County Prosecutor's Office spokeswoman.

Lyons’ sentence date is on June 30, 2016 at 8:30 a.m. The charge of manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a fine of $7,500. Family members and attorneys declined comment following the verdict.

 

They're horrified watching the surveillance video of a little boy dying

Yet Lyons also faces an ongoing civil lawsuit for damages that was filed on behalf of the family.

“This is just the beginning of problems for this defendant,” said attorney Mark Bernstein, who represents the estate of 4-year-old Xavier Strickland. Bernstein added that when compared with similar cases of dog attacks, “This is by far the most egregious set of facts I’ve seen in my career.”

The defense had argued that the fatal mauling of 4-year-old Xavier was an accident.

But in the end, the jury concluded that Lyons, who owned four pit bull mix dogs — two puppies and two adults — created a situation that led to the boy's death by failing to secure his dogs,  just as prosecutors had argued throughout trial.

A Detroit police technician records information Wednesday after a fatal 
dog mauling near the corner of Baylis and the John C. Lodge Service 
Drive in Detroit. (Photo: Steve Perez / The Detroit News)

“It’s important to remember that we’re not here though because of what the dogs did … we’re here because of what the defendant did,” assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Parisa Kiani told jurors.

But the defense countered that that people in the neighborhood didn’t call animal control or the police when they had seen the dogs out before. And they never notified Lyons, who repaired and rented properties for his job and had installed security cameras at his home, which was surrounded by an iron fence. The surveillance video was turned over to police after the attack.

“We believe that the evidence is going to show this was an accident,” defense attorney Francisco Villarruel told jurors, noting the medical examiner ruled it an accident.

Perhaps the most compelling witness was the boy's mother, Lucillie Strickland, who told jurors the dogs pulled her young son from her grasp as they walked down a street, dragged him underneath a fence and mauled him as she looked on.

 

“That will never leave my eyes,” Strickland said. “Never leave my mind.”

Strickland, who lives around the corner from the dogs, said the pit bills rushed her and her son in the area of John C. Lodge Service Drive and Baylis. It happened as she walked to volunteer at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School with Xavier.

Strickland fell on of the boy and was bitten on her ear, leg and back, she said. As she was getting up, the dogs grabbed her son.

“They were so strong,” she said. “They just snatched him.”

During the trial, neighbors testified seeing the dogs outside of their yard several times before Xavier was killed. But  they didn’t call police, animal control or tell Lyons, they testified.

“I didn’t take it too serious,” testified Yolanda Samuels, noting Lyons' dog had come after her two sons before, but didn't hurt them. “In my eyes, they were puppies. They didn’t seem harmful at the time.”

Lyons’ house had an iron fence surrounding it, making it hard for people to get to the front door and tell him about the dogs getting out, neighbors said.

According to trial testimony, neighbors heard Xavier's mother screaming on the day of the attack and went outside to discover dogs circling the boy. People were throwing stuff at the dogs from the top of the fence and then police arrived and started shooting the animals, neighbors said.

Two officers picked up the boy, who was conscious, and transported him to a hospital, where he later died. Xavier suffered more than 90 puncture wounds during the attack.

Three of the dogs were killed at the scene. A fourth was later euthanized.

(Detroit Free Press -  June 9, 2016)

Earlier:

• ‘They just ate him,’ mom says about dog attack on son
• Disturbing details revealed about deadly dog attack in Detroit

United Kingdom: Woman risks her life to save elderly man from pit bull attack

UNITED KINGDOM -- A pit bull terrier badly injured a pensioner as he attempted to stop it running into the path of traffic on a main road.

The dog savagely attacked the man biting into his thigh, arm and shoulder.

The man, aged 70, desperately tried to break free as blood from his wounds began to flow.

He was saved from further injury by a young woman who intervened and threw a house brick which hit the animal.

Mum-of-three Kym Smith, 26, said: "I thought the black pit bull was going to kill him.

Hero: Kym Smith

"I did not want to risk getting bitten. So I picked up the brick and threw it. I hit the dog on the legs and it let go and ran off towards nearby houses."

The incident occurred at the junction of Leicester Road and Sandown Road in Wigston on at about 11am on Friday January 8 .

Kym, who is a care worker, went to help the man covering him with her coat. She then took him to her home in Grange Road.

She said: "He had bite marks in his left shoulder which were bleeding and injuries on his thigh and arm."

Miss Smith believes the man had tried to grab the dog's collar to stop it running into Leicester Road and being hit by a car.

She added: "I think the dog thought the man was attacking it and that is why it bit him."

The victim, who does not want to be identified, was due to meet a friend for lunch in Wigston.

A bystander called an ambulance but the injured man refused to go with them. Instead his friend drove him to the Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham.

The injured man, who was visiting his family from his home in Devon, had 17 stitches in the shoulder wound and was kept in overnight.

He left hospital on Saturday evening after receiving treatment.

The incident was witnessed by bystanders who posted comments on the Facebook site Spotted: Aylestone, Oadby and Wigston.

The granddaughter of the injured man said: "He is a very lucky man to be saved by Kym. He has been visiting family in Wigston for the past three months.

"My granddad refused the ambulance but his friend, who he was meeting for lunch, took him to hospital in Nottingham. "He had to have 17 stitches to his shoulder. He is on the mend though. He was lucky."

She added her family had planned to meet Kym to say thank you.

(Leicester Mercury - Jan 18, 2016)

Disturbing details revealed about deadly dog attack in Detroit

MICHIGAN -- Judge Adams, her deputy and a court reporter all appeared visibly shaken as they watched surveillance video of a vicious attack - four pit bulls that killed 4-year-old Xavier Strickland.

The attack happened on December 2 as he walked to school with his mom.

“I just heard a baby crying,” testified Debra Ann Hardrick, a neighbor.

“I heard a lady's voice screaming – ‘Call the police! Call the police!’”

“I saw a lady sitting on the grass crying – saying, ‘Get my baby, get my baby!’”

Another neighbor was rushing to help Xavier's mother.

“When I looked at her, she looked up at me and said, ‘Please help me. The dogs have my baby.' And she pointed to the house on the corner.”

“I ran to the side of the house. I see the dogs and they had the child.”

It happened on the corner of the Lodge Service Drive and Baylis. Xavier Strickland's mother had been walking him to school when the dogs escaped their fenced in yard and attacked, pulling Xavier under the fence into the yard.

“All three of the dogs were hovered over the child. All I heard was growling and barking and when I looked I saw the child on the ground and the dogs were over him like they were snatching his clothes off.”

“Could you see if the child was bleeding?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know if the child was bleeding?”

“Yes.”

The witness says she ran to get mace and sprayed the dogs until she ran out. One of the dogs was crawling under the fence to come after her.

 

 

Police arrived and shot the dogs. Then she saw little Xavier.

“The stomach, the intestines, was hanging out of the child.”

One neighbor testified that the dogs had escaped their fenced in yard in the past.

“The personal problem that we had with those dogs was them walking down the street when we're trying to come out of our homes - that's the problem we were having with the dogs.”

“Three pit bulls walking down the street.”

 

 

They're horrified watching the surveillance video of a little boy dying

It was after this chilling testimony that surveillance video from the home of Geneke Lyons was shown to the judge. She and her staff were clearly rattled.

“Reading the expression on the judge's face, on the court officer's face, on the court reporter's face was excruciating and telling,” said Mark Bernstein, attorney for the victim’s family.

Testimony resumes on Wednesday to determine if the owner of the pit bulls should stand trial for murder for the death caused by his dogs.

(Fox2Detroit - Dec 23, 2015)

Earlier:

• ‘They just ate him,’ mom says about dog attack on son

‘They just ate him,’ mom says about dog attack on son

UPDATE TO STORY: Owner of pit bulls Geneke Lyons guilty in death of Detroit boy, 4

MICHIGAN -- Lucillie Strickland says she has been “constantly” reliving in her mind the sight of her 4-year-old son being mauled by four pit bulls Wednesday.

“They pulled him from me and (dragged) him under the fence. They just ate him,” said Strickland, a 33-year-old wife and mother of seven, breaking down in tears.

Strickland was walking with her 4-year-old son Xavier to nearby Thurgood Marshall school, when four pit bulls charged from the back of a home in the 15500 block of Baylis around 12:25 p.m. Wednesday. They attacked her child as she tried to fight them off.

The dogs attacked Strickland, too, biting her in the back and the legs as she tried to protect Xavier, a little boy small for his age.

“I fell on top of him,” Strickland said Thursday, explaining how she tried to protect her little boy. “I had him under my arms.”

When police arrived in the neighborhood near the Lodge Freeway and Linwood they fatally shot three of the dogs. The fourth was captured.

Xavier was taken to Henry Ford Hospital where he died despite doctors’ efforts to save him.

It isn’t the first time the dogs have gotten loose and attacked one of the Strickland children. The family lives around the corner from where the mauling took place.

Xavier’s aunt Laconya Cage said the boy’s 9-year-old sister was attacked by one of the dogs and had to see a doctor, but her injuries were just scratches. Cage wasn’t sure if police were called but her brother, Ramone Cage, said the 41-year-old man who owns the dogs was told about the incident.

“He was warned (about the dogs),” said Ramone Cage, Xavier’s maternal uncle. “He should serve jail time. We can never get my nephew back. This is a mother whose child was torn like a rag doll.”

During the attack, witnesses screamed at the dogs and used a brick and club to try to free the boy.

Strickland’s family remembered Xavier as an energetic, little boy who smiled all the time and liked the Power Rangers and Lego toys. They are making funeral arrangements for him next week.

Gap in fence
The dog escaped through a “significant” gap in the fence before grabbing the boy, Detroit Officer Jennifer Moreno said Thursday.

“His mother was trying to hold onto her child and the dog bit her also,” Moreno said. “She was laying on top of the boy. I can’t imagine. His mom, his poor mom.”

The boy died of multiple puncture wounds to his body, according to the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office. The manner of death was ruled accidental.

The owner of the pit bulls was arrested Wednesday, police said. The man remained in custody early Thursday and may face charges including negligent homicide or manslaughter, Moreno said. He is cooperating with police, officials have said.

Animal control received no prior complaints about the animals involved in Wednesday’s attack, said Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, executive director and health officer for the Detroit Health Department, which oversees the city’s animal control department.

“We’ve had no prior contact with the owner of those animals, which means they were not licensed and there were no specific complaints about them,” he said.

But the department did receive two complaints, in 2013 and 2014, about stray dogs in the area, he said.

“(Responding officers) did the regular sweep and there were no animals located,” El-Sayed said.

Health official’s advice

He noted responsible pet ownership can prevent tragic animal encounters.

A Detroit police technician records information Wednesday after a fatal
dog mauling near the corner of Baylis and the John C. Lodge Service
Drive in Detroit. (Photo: Steve Perez / The Detroit News)

“It takes people deciding to make sure their dogs are protected from ever being involved in something like this and protecting other people’s children,” said El-Sayed. “Because (Xavier) is everybody’s child. If it takes a village to raise a child, this happened in our village.”

El-Sayed said his department is dedicated to increasing responsible pet ownership in the city, including licensing pets and keeping dogs leashed.

“I just can’t imagine watching your 4-year-old mauled by a number of dogs,” he said. “This is the challenge we face in the city and responsible ownership is probably the biggest part of that. We will do everything we can to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with Xavier’s funeral costs.

(Detroit News - Dec 3, 2015)

Residents say teens lit cat on fire and beat it to death, officials investigate

INDIANA -- South Bend Animal Care and Control is investigating a cat abuse case.

The incident happened near Randolph and Clyde on the south side of the city, but it's unclear when it happened.

While officials won't say who is responsible, several residents believe teenagers are to blame.

Residents said that the teens lit the cat on fire and then used a brick to beat the animal to death.

Bits of fur and the alleged brick are still visible at the scene where the incident happened.

Officials are performing a necropsy to obtain more information and the incident remains under investigation.

(WNDU-TV - Jul 28, 2015)

Two future serial killers beat opossum and then set it and its babies on fire, killing it

NORTH CAROLINA -- It’s a case of animal cruelty so brutal, High Point police said it’s very rare they see anything like this.

The police report states that a group of five young boys attacked an opossum and beat it to death with sticks and bricks, then doused it in lighter fluid and set it on fire while it was trying to give birth.

 

The report also says that as the opossum was burning, “several newborn babies began to come out of the female’s pouch…the babies succumbed from the attack.”

Police have charged a 12-year-old and a 13-year-old with misdemeanor animal cruelty and said more kids could be charged soon.

It happened Sunday afternoon on Woodrow Avenue in High Point.

Sara Kurtnacker said she saw a lot of it happen and tried to call police, but it was too late.

 

 “I walked out and basically saw them bludgeon an opossum with bricks and stones,” she said. “It was way beyond animal cruelty. It was just inhumane.”

Kurtnacker said she saw five young boys involved, who could not have been older than middle school age. She said the worst part is that they clearly enjoyed killing the opossum.

 

 

"They were having a ball doing it,” she said. “If you can do that to an opossum, the next step is dogs, cats, moving up. You never know what area of the food chain they’re going to hit next.”

(MyFox8 - June 18, 2015)

Boy, 5, mauled to death by pit bull despite onlookers stabbing AND beating the dog with a brick and chair to try and stop the deadly attack

ILLINOIS -- A five-year-old boy has died after being mauled by a pit bull, even as onlookers beat the dog to death while trying to stop the attack.

James W. Nevils was inside a property in Gresham, Chicago, on Monday night when the animal grabbed him by the neck and shoulder.

Witnesses heard someone screaming: 'He's my baby, somebody please help me,' as a woman dragged the child and the animal outside in a bid to get help.

According to ABC 7 Chicago, a man and his brother then ran over and started hitting the dog.

The pair picked up anything they could find on the way - including a bricks, a pole and a chair.

 

They even stabbed it, eventually killing the animal, but they could not prevent the boy from dying.

Neighbors said the dog briefly let go of the child, but quickly latched onto him again. 

Marquis Lewis, who tried to save the child, told ABC 7 Chicago: 'I don't know, I wasn't really thinking about nothing but getting the dog off the baby.

First responders found the boy unresponsive at the scene and rushed him to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

He was pronounced dead a short time later. It is not known which family the dog belonged to.

Neighbors told the station the mother and child may have been visiting the house at the time.
Police are yet to make any arrests. 

(Daily Mail - May 26, 2015)

Tioga man, Willie Enoch, jailed for beating neighbor's dogs with bricks

PENNSYLVANIA -- A Tioga man has been sentenced to nine to 18 months in jail for beating his neighbor's dogs with bricks this past August.

Willie Enoch, 56, also faces a consecutive sentence of five years' probation and has been ordered to pay more than $4,000 in restitution to the Pennsylvania SPCA, the organization announced in a news release.

 

"At the PSPCA, we often deal with tough situations, and this crime was particularly atrocious," director of humane litigation Rebecca Glenn-Dinwoodie said in a statement.

Police brought the two dogs to the PSPCA's Erie Avenue shelter Aug. 27 after their owner found them bleeding outside her home on the 3700 block of North 19th Street.

Both dogs were triaged to the organization's Shelter Hospital, where they were treated for injuries consistent with blunt force trauma.

They have since healed and been placed in permanent homes, PSPCA chief executive Jerry Buckley said.

Enoch was arrested Nov. 4, after an investigation by humane law enforcement officers.

He was convicted Jan. 23 of two counts of first-degree misdemeanor animal cruelty, along with one count of possessing an instrument of crime.

Enoch has been jailed since his arrest, unable to post 10 percent of $25,000 bail. He will receive credit for time served, court records indicate.

During his Municipal Court hearing Friday, he was also ordered to participate in an alcohol treatment program, submit to mental health supervision, and refrain from owning animals for the duration of his sentence.

"We are pleased that the court has imposed jail time, significant probation, a monetary fine, and restriction on animal ownership," Buckley said in a statement. "This sentence sends a message that animal cruelty matters and that these animals deserve justice."

Anyone wishing to report animal abuse is urged to call the PSPCA cruelty hotline at 1-866-601-SPCA.

(Philly.com - Feb 6, 2015)

Paterson children plead guilty to torturing, killing stray cat "Quattro"

NEW JERSEY -- Three Paterson children charged with viciously killing a stray cat have pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges, according to the Passaic County ASPCA.

"The case was heard on October 2014 - All three Juveniles involved pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and have been charged to the fullest extent of the law," the agency said on Facebook on Wednesday.

 

 

The death of "Quattro the cat" sparked outrage across the country (and in Paterson, for other reasons) in May after authorities determined three boys– ages 6, 10 and 12– had critically beaten the feline with rocks and bricks near Public School 4.

Two brothers, ages 14 and 12, were credited with having halted the attack. But Quattro had to be euthanized after having suffered two broken legs, a broken jaw, a fractured eye socket and head trauma.

School officials suspended the grade schoolers back in May.

As a result of their guilty pleas, Judge Greta Gooden-Brown ordered the boys to one year of probation and 30 hours of community service in a pet therapy program or an animal control agency, prosecutors said.

"Also, the juveniles were ordered to undergo mental health counseling which will focus on empathy awareness, anger management and impulse control," Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia M. Valdes said in a statement. "Futhermore, each juvenile was ordered to engage in family counseling."

Renee Olah, who founded Second Chance at Life cat rescue, said on the "Justice for Quattro"
Facebook page that supporters sent prosecutors more than 1,000 letters and emails demanding that justice be served.

(NJ.com - Dec 4, 2014)

Earlier:

• Cat dies a week after being rescued from brutal attack by New Jersey schoolkids: cops