A Halifax man who cut off a kitten's genitals with a pair of scissors has been sentenced to house arrest for three months by a judge who noted his problems with post-traumatic stress disorder and pain medication.

Dennis Perrault was sentenced Friday in Halifax provincial court. He had pleaded guilty to two counts of animal cruelty.

Tigger died during an emergency procedure.
(CBC file)

The court heard Perrault left the navy after cleaning up human remains following the 1998 crash of SwissAir Flight 111 off Peggy's Cove.
 
Judge Anne Derrick told Perrault that his actions were serious enough to warrant jail time, but she didn't believe that was the best sentence for him.

The judge said she recognized that Perrault suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I think she rightly determined this had to be a factor," defence lawyer Peter Mancini told reporters outside the courtroom.

"When you take this in combination with the fact that he was on a tremendous amount of pain medication following injuries sustained in a robbery, I suspect he just didn't have that normal fuse that most of us have to deal with stressful situations and he acted improperly."

Perrault bought the seven-week-old kitten for his 10-year-old daughter last April. One night he snipped off the kitten's genitals without anesthetic.

A week later, Tigger died while veterinarians tried to reconnect his urethra.

Perrault has no explanation for why he used a pair of scissors on the kitten, Mancini said in court.

The Crown had asked for three or four months of jail time for Perrault.

Perrault will have to repay the Nova Scotia SPCA nearly $2,400 for veterinary bills and care, pay a $400 fine and serve two years' probation following his house arrest.

In addition, he will not be allowed to own an animal again.

SPCA satisfied with sentence

Judith Gass, a spokeswoman for the SPCA, said she's satisfied the judge made a "very well-reasoned" decision.

"I thought everyone did a good job," Gass said. "I think it is a good case for a precedent in the province."