[StBernard] Violet man arrested after killing $3,500 cat

[Westley Annis]

Violet man arrested after killing $3,500 cat 
07:37 PM CDT on Friday, May 1, 2009

Bradley Handwerger / Eyewitness News 

VIOLET ― A Violet man was arrested after allegedly shooting and killing a
cat worth $3,500 earlier this week. 

Raja, a $3,500 Savannah cat, was found shot and killed in Violet. 

Rene P. Desselle is charged with aggravated cruelty to an animal and illegal
discharge of a weapon, St. Bernard Parish Chief Deputy Sheriff James
Pohlmann said. 


Desselle, who was released on a $6,000 bond, told sheriffs that he shot at
the Savannah cat, but missed, Pohlmann said. 


The cat apparently escaped from Jay Authement's home and was found shot in
the head and neck in the back yard next to Desselle's home, Pohlmann said. 

Desselle told officials the cat attacked his daughter's small dog in his
backyard on Sun., April 19 before he chased the cat away. 


The 10-pound cat disappeared from Authement's home on April 17, after which
he and his wife put fliers throughout the neighborhood with a picture of the
cat. 


Authement told deputies that Desselle called him on April 20 telling him he
found the cat dead in a neighbor's back yard, Pohlmann said.