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The ongoing campaign to identify and locate Matt, the third person responsible for torturing a Toronto cat on film in 2001, made the headlines this spring when Matthew Kaczorowski, age 21, was found and arrested in Vancouver.
Matthew s arrest can be largely credited to Katie Woodward, the Haliburton, ON, woman who single-handedly launched a national campaign to hunt for the missing torturer. She launched a website, www.findmatt.org, last April, which featured a still shot of Matt, taken from the offensive video. For a full year, she promoted her site extensively, including through media interviews with the Toronto Sun and CKNW AM980, in Vancouver. It was during a live radio interview with the west coast radio station that a concerned citizen learned about Ms. Woodward s campaign, and visited the Web site.
She immediately recognized Matt as a drifter who lived on the street in her area. She followed the link to Crime Stoppers, and informed them of her finding. Over the next few days, Toronto and Vancouver Police worked together, and eventually, Detective Gordon Scott and Detective-Constable John Margetson of Toronto flew out west to apprehend Matt.
The police officers have widely recognized Ms. Woodward for her efforts, noting that it is the first time they have had a website dedicated to one of their cases.
Charges laidDespite his obvious participation in the horrific video, Matthew could not be charged with animal cruelty because of the current six month limit on laying charges for such crimes. Instead, Matt was charged with mischief, theft under $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime. The latter two charges were dependent on finding the owner of the cat, which has been named
Kensington after the market where she was found. Ms. Woodward launched Kensington s Campaign in March to encourage the cat s owner to come forward.
On May 28, Matthew appeared before the court, where a Crown lawyer asked for harsher sentence, than those already handed down to the other two men responsble for Kenington s death. His sentence is on hold until judges decide on the fate of his accomplice, Jesse Power, who is appealing part of his sentence – 90 days in custody, to be served on weekends. The three member panel of judges reserved decision on the appeal of Mr. Power s sentence. In the meantime, Ms. Woodward continues her efforts to bring Kensington s torturers to justice.
Anthony Wennekers, 25, and Mr. Power, 22, the two other art students who tortured the cat, were sentenced in April 2002 to time served in custody and 90 days to be served in jail on weekends respectively. Each pleaded guilty to one count of animal cruelty and mischief.
The animal cruelty legislationMs. Woodward, with encouragement from the Crown prosecutors, has also thrown her support behind Bill C-10B. Under the new proposed legislation, Matt and the other two offenders could still have been charged with animal cruelty, and would likely have received a much harsher sentence.
Regardless of Matthew s sentence, however, the widespread support for Katie Woodward s campaign has shown the Canadian media and the governments just how people feel about animal cruelty. With just one person and a website, she ran a campaign that reached Canadians coast to coast, and that allowed the Toronto police to do what it could not have done alone.
For more information on the Find Matt campaign, visit www.findmatt.org
