Listen to this article
Dear 3 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated using text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.
WARNING: This story contains details about the torture and killing of animals.
A Winnipeg couple pleaded guilty to multiple charges of animal cruelty after being arrested last year for making videos of animals being tortured and killed and selling them on a messaging app, a venture that included more than 90 animals, from kittens to birds to an axolotl.
Irene Lima and Chad Kabecz were arrested in October 2024following an anonymous tip to Manitoba’s provincial veterinarian about a Telegram group with more than 100 members called Goddess May Barefoot Premium Crush, which was sharing and selling videos of animals being crushed to death, Crown lawyer Boyd McGill told a Winnipeg court on Friday.
Police previously said the content had been posted on the dark web – online content that does not appear in regular searches and can only be accessed with a special browser.
McGill said the Telegram group had a price list for animals that could be killed, ranging from a baby mouse for $5 to a family of three kittens for $180.
Lima crushed the animals with his bare feet while Kabecz filmed the videos, which McGill said often had a sexual component.
“The content of the videos is evidence of the charges of animal cruelty. It is impossible to watch these videos and conclude that the animals are not suffering or in pain. Ms. Lima crushes them alive,” McGill told King’s Court Judge Jeffrey Harris.
McGill said the evidence prosecutors reviewed “shows that more than 97 animals were tortured and killed by Mr. Kabecz and Ms. Lima,” including more than 60 cats and kittens, seven birds, six rabbits, six hamsters, three goldfish, one frog and one axolotl.
Lima and Kabecz, who are in custody and pleaded guilty to six counts of animal cruelty each, were brought to court in shackles and sat in separate prisoner boxes, listening silently as details of the case against them were read.
McGill said that after confiscating the couple’s electronic devices, police found a “treasure” of videos showing the killing of many animals, and communications between Lima and Kabecz “discussing these videos and discussing plans to escalate their behavior.”
Entries in Lima’s diary, which was also seized, described “how much he loved killing things with his feet and the pleasure that gave him,” she said.
PayPal records showed the videos made about $2,800 in profit from May to October 2024, McGill said.
Lima and Kabecz are expected to be sentenced at a later date once court-ordered pre-sentence reports are completed. McGill said prosecutors plan to recommend the same sentence for both, but did not say what it would be.
