Shubhankar Kawle: Texas man sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for torturing his ex-GF's cat for over 5 hours
DALLAS, TEXAS: A Texas man is reportedly set to serve six-and-a-half years behind bars after he was captured torturing his former girlfriend’s cat for over five hours in a nanny cam in what one investigator termed it to be 'one of the worst animal abuse cases' he has ever witnessed.
Shubhankar Kawle was convicted last week by a jury in Hunt County, Texas, outside of Dallas, of cruelty to non-livestock animals, torture, a third-degree felony.
In a press release, the Hunt County Sheriff’s Office said that the cat named Nimbus suffered injuries so severe that she had to be euthanized.
Nimbus reportedly suffered mysterious injuries
On October 13, 2021, the sheriff’s office first received a complaint for animal abuse.
According to The Herald-Banner, the complaint came from a woman who was briefly in a relationship with Kawle.
She told the authorities that they had to be called because her two cats kept suffering mysterious injuries.
One of her cats suffered an injury so severe that its leg had to be amputated.
The sheriff's office noted that the woman installed a nanny cam for keeping an eye on her boyfriend and to find out what he was up to when he was home alone with the cats.
On October 9 of the same year, the woman left Kawle alone and the video that was captured was “horrific and heartbreaking,” an investigator said.
What did the authorities find inside the home?
The press release said that the clip showed Kawle torturing the cat for over five hours.
Investigators found several signs of extreme abuse, including “stains on the walls” inside the home, along with a metal rod.
A forensic veterinarian found the cat’s injuries were consistent with what was seen on the video.
When was Shubhankar Kawle arrested?
An investigator from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Texas obtained an arrest warrant for Kawle who was apprehended and taken to custody while he was in class at the University of Texas at Dallas.
“Torturing an animal is inhumane and illegal, and what Mr Kawle did to Nimbus was not only horrific and heartbreaking, but one of the single worst cases of animal torture I’ve seen in my career,” said Chief Investigator Burns in a statement.
“I’m pleased to see the perpetrator of this heinous crime brought to justice," he added.
What did Kawle’s defense lawyers say?
According to the outlet, Kawle’s defense lawyers tried to get the video suppressed from being shown at trial as they argued that the incident was recorded without his consent and thus violated his privacy.
But the motion was denied and jurors saw the gruesome video during the trial.
Kawle also claimed he did not remember torturing Nimbus and his defense lawyers further backed up his claims saying that it could be due to sleep deprivation and stress of college.
However, prosecutors were able to demonstrate he remembered several other activities around the time of the incident, causing them to describe his memory loss as “oddly specific.”