A MAN in Costa Rica who killed his pet cat Ochi by hurling it out a 6th-floor window received a two-year suspended jail term yesterday.    

Gabriel Saborio, 31, was convicted of animal cruelty in the Central American nation and Judge Tatiana Lopez handed down the maximum possible sentence, although she spared him from doing time.  

She said Saborio may no longer have pets and that if he avoids committing animal cruelty in the next five years, he will not go to prison.  

In November 2019, Saborio threw his cat almost 30m from the sixth floor of a condominium in the capital San Jose.   

But it was not until August 2020 that an investigation was opened after video of the event went viral on social media.  

Costa Rica passed its first animal protection legislation in 2017. – AFP, October 25, 2022.