A convicted cat killer blamed the brutal attack on the animal in a desperate attempt to receive leniency from a judge yesterday — but the jurist didn’t bite.
“I don’t understand a cat’s actions, but I had the tire iron to change a flat, and it attacked me,” Richard Ferrugio said before Queens Supreme Court Justice Joseph Zayas sentenced him to a year in jail.
“You are a criminal. The jury’s verdict made you a criminal . . . A prison sentence is warranted. You acted with aggravated cruelty to an animal, which you admitted to,” said Zayas.
Ferrugio, 50, of Ozone Park, used a wrench to beat the black-and-white kitty in February 2012 after it scratched his arm as he fixed his car’s tire outside of Neir’s Tavern.
“This defendant should be the example and sentenced to the maximum to show that his actions against animals won’t be tolerated. It is proven that acts against animals turn to acts of violence with humans,” said Queens Assistant District Attorney Hugo Basso.
He added that Ferrugio turned down probation offers on “several occasions,” despite warnings that he could get jail time.
Ferrugio’s attorney, Sean McNicholas, had said his client is a dog owner and should be given probation, not jail time.
Ferrugio told police at the time of his arrest that he gave the animal one swipe with the tool, but then, “I saw the cat shaking and in misery, so I didn’t want to let the cat suffer anymore, so I hit it until the cat was dead to put it out of its misery and pain.”
Witnesses told a different story, testifying they saw Ferrugio take the metal rod from the trunk of a Nissan Altima and bludgeon the cat as onlookers pleaded with him to stop, said Queens DA Richard A. Brown.
The jury quickly found Ferrugio guilty of felony aggravated cruelty to animals and criminal possession of a weapon, said Brown. He was acquitted of harassment and menacing charges.