Nicolino Camardi gets 22-month sentence in deaths of husky and kitten
A Calgary man who taped the mouths of a dog and cat shut and left them to die has been sentenced to 22 months in jail and banned from ever owning an animal again.
Nicolino Camardi pleaded guilty in December to two counts of causing unnecessary pain to animals after a Siberian husky and a nine-month-old kitten were found tortured and killed early last year.
Provincial court Judge G.J. Gaschler ruled Friday that Camardi will also be on probation for three years.
The 16 months Camardi has already been in custody will be subtracted from his sentence, leaving six more months behind bars.
Court heard that Camardi, who was 18 years old when he was arrested, was a drug user and alcohol abuser at the time.
In a written release, Calgary Humane Society animal cruelty investigations manager Brad Nichols said the sentence reflects that the community will not tolerate animal abuse.
“Today’s sentence reflects the serious nature of the offences, both by incarcerating Mr. Camardi for, until very recently, an unprecedented duration as well as prohibiting him from owning or caring for animals for life," he said.
Nichols said the case was the most complex his organization has ever handled.
“We exhausted all available investigative strategies, including extensive DNA forensics, in putting this case together,” he said.
“With the closure on this case I am extremely proud of my team, the collaboration with Calgary Police Service and the response from this community.”
Crown lawyers were seeking a prison sentence of up to three years while Camardi’s lawyer said he should be sentenced to 18 months in jail — three months, factoring in time served.
Camardi abused the animals over a period of two to three months. He got them from a family who was giving them away on Kijiji.
Calgary Humane Society said necropsies determined the husky died from starvation and had been chronically malnourished and the cat died of asphyxia due to ligature strangulation following the infliction of multiple traumatic injuries to its head, tail and hind limbs.
