Asbury Park Man Now Indicted For Sex Abuse, Killing Of Female Pet Cat

ASBURY PARK, NJ — An Asbury Park man has now been indicted by a Monmouth County grand jury for sexually abusing, torturing and ultimately killing his female pet cat in March of this year.

The indictment against Bani J. Mezquititla, 18, was announced Monday by the Monmouth County Prosecutor.

He is facing a total of five years in prison if found guilty. Mezquititla has been in the Monmouth County jail since he was first arrested in March. His lawyer previously argued he should be let out on bail as he is not accused of harming a human being — an argument Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Chad Cagan rejected.

Mezquititla was arrested March 2, when his female roommate brought the body of his dead cat, Ellie, to Asbury Park Police headquarters. Ellie had been Mezquititla's pet.

Police say he performed sexual acts on the animal many times, seriously injuring it. A post-mortem examination found that Ellie showed signs of sexual trauma, both vaginally and rectally. She had internal puncture wounds, indicative of being penetrated with a pencil.

According to Mezquititla's previous court hearings published by Patch, Mezquititla admitted to masturbating in front of the cat, sticking a pencil inside of the cat and using his penis to have intercourse with the cat, multiple times. This included ejaculating inside and outside the cat, said prosecutors.

He is also alleged to have tied a cord around the cat's neck and slowly strangled multiple times, ultimately killing the cat during one of those instances. On multiple occasions, he strangled the cat with a pulley system using his white cell phone charger, the doorknob and a dresser knob, say prosecutors. While strangling her, he would use miniature handcuffs to tie her limbs behind her back.

In one video on his phone, Ellie is seen awake her mouth open, appearing to gasp for air, and clawing at the wall and in the air as she is strung up in the air. In other videos, she can be seen twitching as she is strangled.

This happened multiple times and he would record the strangulation on video and take selfies.

"You can see the cat struggling for its life and in the same picture you can see him smirking," said the assistant prosecutor.

The abuse had been going on for the past several months, starting around Christmastime, said police.

Additionally, "someone cut her lower jaw and tongue off with a sharp tool. This occurred pre-mortem, meaning while Ellie was still alive," said prosecutors. "He dissected her while she was still alive."

After the cat died, he threw her body out his bedroom window.

He has been indicted on charges of animal cruelty by tormenting, torturing or cruelly abusing a living animal, resulting in its death, and one count of using an animal in a sexual manner, both third-degree crimes.

Anyone with information on this case still urged to contact Asbury Park Police Detective Anthony Houlis at 732-502-4582, SPCA Chief of Humane Law Enforcement Michael Goldfarb at 732-542-0040, or SPCA Lt. Michael Magliozzo at 732-440-4538.

Prior: Graphic Testimony: Asbury Park Man Accused Of Raping, Torturing Cat (March 17)