Asbury Park man sentenced to five years in prison for raping and killing a domestic cat

FREEHOLD – In a courtroom packed with activists demanding justice for a horribly abused cat, a judge sentenced the pet’s owner Thursday to the maximum penalty of five years in prison for raping, torturing and ultimately killing the animal after dissecting her face while she was alive.

“There is no question that the conduct here was exceedingly cruel, extraordinarily brutal and shockingly cruel,” said Superior Court Judge Chad N. Cagan as he sentenced 19-year-old Bani Mezquititla of Asbury Park to five years in prison on each count. The defendant pleaded guilty in April to two counts of animal cruelty.

“This defendant took pleasure in torturing an innocent and defenseless pet and inflicting untold suffering and agony,” Cagan said.

The judge described the case, citing, among other things, that Mezquititla repeatedly strangled his pet cat, “Ellie,” with a pulley made from a phone charger cord and a doorknob until she became unconscious, only to then resuscitate her and continue to torture her. The cat’s paws were tied behind her back with miniature handcuffs during the torture, the judge noted.

Mezquititla also repeatedly sexually abused the animal with his penis and a pencil, causing internal stab wounds to the cat, Cagan said.

“This was sustained torture that lasted for months,” the judge said.

The defendant dissected part of Ellie’s face while she was still alive and then killed her and threw her body out of the window of his apartment, the judge said.

“Moreover, he recorded his actions – his cruel actions – on video for later viewing,” Cagan said, a fact the judge reiterated several times during the sentencing.

“What impresses the court here is not only the heinous and brutal nature of these crimes, but also that he preserved them and videotaped them for later enjoyment,” Cagan said. “I think that indicates a risk that he will commit another crime in the future.”

Keri Leigh Schaefer, assistant district attorney for Monmouth County, also outlined the facts, including that Mezquititla shared the video of the torture with his cousin and showed it to his roommate.

After the roommate went to the Asbury Park Police Department with Ellie’s body on March 2, 2023, police arrested Mezquititla and found photos of the cat in handcuffs on his phone, as well as video of the torture, including a selfie of him in the mirror with the cat dangling from the phone’s charging cord, Schaefer said.

The deputy prosecutor noted that Mezquititla had made a statement to the police in which he confessed to this conduct.

Schäfer demanded the maximum sentence for the defendant.

“This is necessary to protect the public,” she said. “It’s fair.”

Mezquititla’s attorney, William Wackowski, asked the judge to sentence his client to probation, which would be the likely sentence for someone like Mezquititla, who has no prior criminal record.

Wackowski said his client suffers from mental illness, likely the result of a previous trauma “that left an invisible scar.”

The defense argued that Mezquititla needed treatment, not prison, and that without treatment he would simply go free and reoffend.

“What happened to Ellie is the symptom, not the problem,” Wackowski said. “The problem is the mental illness.”

“How about we try to save the boy,” Wackowski said. “That would help the public in the future when he gets his treatment.”

However, Cagan denied this, arguing that the defense had not presented the court with expert reports to support the allegations of mental illness.

Mezquititla apologized and asked for another chance.

“I just want to say I’m sorry for what happened,” he said. “I want to be given another chance to be a better person. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to be a better person so that people don’t see me as a monster.”

Before announcing the verdict, Cagan noted that he had received “dozens of letters” from across the country, “from California to Mississippi to the Carolinas, in this case from New Jersey, New York, wherever.”

He held up a stack of letters and said he had read them all.

“The court finds that under the circumstances, it awarded the maximum amount of compensation it could under the settlement,” Cagan said. “The court does not agree with the law, but it enforces the law, and that is exactly what the court did here. I enforced the law prohibiting animal cruelty, which was done here in such a heinous and brutal manner.”

In addition to the prison sentence, Cagan ordered Mezquititla to pay a yet-to-be-determined amount of restitution to cover the costs of Ellie’s veterinary bills and the autopsy, and permanently banned the defendant from owning or living with animals.

Some in the courtroom began to applaud when Cagan announced the verdict, but the sheriffs advised them not to. Many of the more than 30 spectators in the courtroom wore T-shirts or buttons with a photo of Ellie and demanded justice for her.

Before the verdict was announced, many of them marched in front of the courthouse with signs, some with Ellie’s photo, demanding justice for her.

“Mezquititla raped a cat,” read one of the posters.

“Justice for all, no matter what kind,” said another.

Spectators in the courtroom were not allowed to take the posters into the courtroom.

They picked her up in the hallway after the verdict was announced and carried her, some of them cheering, out of the courthouse to pose for a group photo.

One of the animal rights activists, Rachel Ogden of Westville, said she made the buttons with Ellie’s picture on them that she and others wore in the courtroom.

“I just thought it was so important to see her face in the courtroom, so I had this button made,” Ogden said.

“I am satisfied, we are satisfied with the verdict,” said Janine Motta, director of the Animal Protection League of New Jersey.

“We also recognize that we need to get lawmakers to increase penalties for certain types of animal cruelty,” she said.

She said the organization would like to see cases of extreme animal cruelty classified as second-degree crimes, punishable by five to 10 years in prison.

The sentence that Mezquititla received does not include a period of exclusion for parole, meaning that he could be released on parole after serving one-third of his sentence.

Mezquititla will receive 469 days credit toward his sentence for time already spent in the Monmouth County Jail while awaiting the outcome of his case.

Kathleen Hopkins, a New Jersey reporter since 1985, covers crime, court cases, legal issues and virtually every major murder trial in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Reach her at [email protected]..

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