On June 13, 2022, the Regina Police Service received an unusual report of a stolen grey and white male cat. On June 11, 2022, when the owner of the cat couldn’t find him, she checked her home video surveillance system and saw an unknown male luring the cat and taking him from her yard in the 2300 block of McAra Street. On June 14, 2022, the cat was found, dead, in a field, in the Northwest part of the city. The Regina Police Service, assisted by the Humane Society/Animal Protection, verified the ownership of the cat via microchip. The deceased cat belonged to the McAra Street resident.
Through the course of this investigation, the Regina Police Service was assisted by other agencies, individuals, and businesses. A necropsy report concluded the cat’s injuries were severe and not accidental. The investigation broadened and uncovered evidence suggesting there’d been an attempt to steal the same cat a day earlier, on June 10, 2022. It’s believed the same suspect was responsible. Further investigation eventually led to the arrest of a 29 year-old male suspect on August 23, 2022. The male was the already the subject of two Probation Orders, with several conditions.
Twenty-nine year-old Matthew James DRUMMOND, of Regina, is charged with:
– Attempt Theft, s. 334 CC;
– 2 X Breach of Probation (June 10), s. 733.1(1) CC;
– Theft under $5,000 (cat), s. 334(b) CC;
– 2 X Breach of Probation (June 11), s. 733.1(1) CC;
– 2 X Breach of Prohibition Order (June 10, 11), s. 447.1 CC; and
– Causing Unnecessary Suffering to Animals, s. 445.1(1)(a) CC.
DRUMMOND made his first court appearance on these charges in Provincial Court, at 9;30 a.m. on Wednesday, August 24, 2022.
