Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced on April 13 that a Bronx man was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals for allegedly killing a 7-year-old Pomeranian dog during an argument with his ex-girlfriend.

 

In the context of the announcement, Clark said, “This was a spectacularly brutal act of animal abuse. The defendant is being held accountable for allegedly causing multiple fractures to the little dog’s head, killing him instantly.” The district attorney said the defendant, Victor Castillo, 32, of  Webb Avenue in The Bronx, was arraigned on April 13 on an indictment charging aggravated cruelty to animals, New York Agricultural and Markets Law section 353-a, a felony, before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Guy Mitchell. Castillo is due back in court on May 4.

 

According to the investigation, on Feb. 9, Castillo had an argument with his ex-girlfriend in her apartment on Arthur Avenue, when he picked up her pet dog, Ken-Shin, a 9 ½-pound Pomeranian, by the neck and slammed his head onto a wooden coffee table, causing blood to splatter around the room, and killing the dog instantly. A post-mortem examination of Ken-Shin by the A.S.P.C.A. revealed that the blunt force trauma to his head caused him to have multiple skull fractures and lacerations to his brain which caused his death.

 

The case is being prosecuted by senior investigative assistant district attorney, Kevin Griffin, of the Special Investigations Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Robert Eisman of  the Economic Crimes Bureau, under the supervision of VCEB Deputy Chief Ronald Sannicandro and VCEB Bureau Chief Newton Mendys, and the overall supervision of Denise Kodjo, deputy chief of the investigations division and Wanda Perez-Maldonaldo, chief of the investigations division.

 

Clark thanked Assistant District Attorney Rebekah Cohen of the Domestic Violence Bureau and Trial Preparation Assistant Onaeida Nkurmah for assistance in the case. She also thanked the A.S.P.C.A., specifically Dr. Deana Rowlison, and NYPD Detective Janet Ospina, of the animal cruelty investigation squad, for their work on the investigation.

 

A person arrested and charged with a crime is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.