Man Gets Six Months In Prison For Torturing Girlfriend's Kitten

By Mae Rice in News on Apr 14, 2016 5:51PM

Nathan Sitter, 24 (Champaign County sheriff's office)

A Champaign judge sentenced a DeKalb man to six months in prison and 30 months of probation for torturing his girlfriend's kitten, which later died, Champaign-based paper The News-Gazette reports.

The man, 24-year-old Nathan Sitter, pleaded guilty to one count of animal torture in mid-March.

On Dec. 4, Sitter submerged his girlfriend's kitten Mocha in cold water four or five times, holding it underwater for about 20 seconds each time, while he was alone in his girlfriend's apartment. He also hit the kitten on the top of its head with a closed fist, according to the News-Gazette.

When his girlfriend returned home, she took the nine-month-old cat to the emergency room, where Dr. Stephanie Zec treated the kitten. Zec grew emotional describing the cat's condition in court. Mocha was unconscious, suffering seizures, with a body temperature 20 degrees below normal, and bleeding in both eyes. Despite medical assistance, Mocha died after seven hours of treatment, Zec said.

Sitter told the court he was "ashamed" of his actions and "unwell," when he did it. Sitter's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Janie Miller-Jones, specified that Sitter has suffered severe bouts of depression and has been in counseling since his arrest in December.