A New York man is facing jail time over a domestic dispute police say ended when the victim’s pet parakeet was “snapped” in half and killed amid the suspect’s flurry of violent threats.
According to the Staten Island Advance, 36-year-old Javier Villanueba was initially arrested in April on suspicion of multiple crimes associated with the incident.
Reports indicate the man was at his Tompkinsville home when he and a 33-year-old female at the location became involved in an altercation.
Villanueba picked up a knife and pointed it toward his ex-partner, according to police.
“I’m going to kill you,” he allegedly told her in Spanish before grabbing the woman’s pet bird and killing it with his bare hands.
According to a police report, the woman claims Villanueba then threw the dead bird in the trash.
The bird’s remains were recovered and an examination failed to definitively list Villanueba as the cause of its death.
In court this week, he pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor disorderly conduct count.
The deal allowed him to skate on additional charges including the more severe aggravated animal cruelty, as well as torturing and injuring an animal, harassment, criminal weapon possession, and menacing.
He will be able to avoid jail time by successfully completing a drug treatment program, but could spend a year behind bars if he does not.
[Featured image: Pixabay]