Calgary woman sentenced for animal abuse

A Calgary woman has been sentenced for abusing and killing a number of cats, with the judge handing down one of the longest animal cruelty sentences seen in the country.

Justice Mike Dinkel sentenced 26-year-old Aleeta Raugust to six-and-a-half years behind bars, according to multiple reports.

This comes after she pleaded guilty in March to abusing nine felines, killing seven of them.

Brad Nichols, director of operations and enforcement at the Calgary Human Society, tells CityNews the punishment is starting to reflect the crime.

“When you’re seeing these significant jail sentences and these prohibitions from owning animals, there’s most definitely a link interpersonal violence and animal cruelty which is starting to be recognized by police forces and by society at large,” he said. “Think twice before doing it, because it will be investigated, it will be taken seriously and if it makes it to court, we’re now seeing the potential consequences of quite significant jail time.”

Judge Dinkel also referred to a psychiatric assessment done on Raugust and said he believes she is a threat to re-offend.

Raugust will now spend roughly five-and-a-half years in prison for time already served.

Nichols says the humane society believes the crime itself and the strict sentencing is eye opening.

“It’s definitely a significant sentence. The maximum under the criminal code is five years per offence, so certainly meaningful jail time,” he said. “We don’t see many of these types of crimes locally, usually it’s a case of neglect or loss of control of temper, and it’s not psychopathic behaviour, but in this case, I think that’s exactly what we’re seeing.”

Nichols adds Raugust’s sentence is the longest jail term for animal cruelty in the country.

“This a multitude of charges and that sentence is reflective of all the charges themselves,” he said. “So we’ve definitely seen jail time in the past for some of these serious cases. Certainly, this is the longest animal cruelty sentence that we’ve seen locally and hopefully it builds some momentum.”