Warning: This story contains content related to the killing of an animal that readers may find disturbing. 

A Penticton man who killed his domestic partner's pet during a drunken argument will spend the next six months under house arrest. 

Jacob Bradley Barth, born in 2000, appeared in Penticton Provincial Court on April 6 to hear his fate after previously pleading guilty to the charge of killing an animal and the charge of mischief under $5,000.

The court heard that on Dec. 18, 2022, an intoxicated Barth got into an argument with his then-partner in the apartment they shared in Penticton, his ex leaving for her mother's place upstairs at one point to get away from the disagreement. 

After she left, Barth began trashing the place, audible from outside the apartment. 

When his ex returned in the morning, she found Barth asleep on the sofa and the rest of the apartment a total mess. She also spotted the lid off of the tank for her pet lizard of seven years. 

Inside the tank, her pet Gizmo was dead, with cuts all over his body and the knife still in his head. 

Barth's ex called the cops, who removed him from the apartment, as he was still intoxicated and refusing to leave. 

In a victim impact statement that was submitted as evidence but not read aloud before the court, Barth's ex said that the incident had left her facing ongoing panic attacks, an inability to trust anyone, anxiety over her own safety and grief for the loss of her beloved pet. 

Judge Greg Koturbash stated that he found the incident incredibly disturbing, and expressed concerns about the situation beyond the joint submission Crown and Defence presented. 

"It was done in the context of intimate partner violence and in a clear range of trust, the intentions were very, for lack of a better word, sinister in the sense that you want to inflict fear and you want to inflict harm," said Koturbash. "Our justice system has to speak for those who cannot, and today that includes a small creature named Gizmo, a seven-year-old pet who depended entirely on human kindness and received none of that from you that day."

However, he noted that despite his concerns, there were not enough grounds for him to reject the joint submission. Some of the mitigating factors included the remorse that Barth had expressed, his current sobriety and pledge to remain sober, and the guilty plea that spared his ex from having to testify. 

Barth was sentenced to spend the next 90 days on 24-7 house arrest, followed by 90 days of a strict curfew and then 12 months of probation. 

In addition to a no-contact order, Koturbash included a requirement for Barth to undergo treatment as directed by his probation officer, whether it is for his alcohol use or for any underlying psychological concerns. 

"[Drinking] does not create cruelty where none exists, people don't suddenly become violent strangers to themselves when they drink," said Koturbash. "It does reveal parts of who you are and what you revealed was and is deeply concerning to the court. This wasn't just a lapse in judgement it was an insight or window into a flawed part of your character and it can't be ignored."

The remaining charges of causing an animal undue pain or suffering and criminal harassment were stayed as part of the joint submission. 

Under the probation and conditional sentence, Barth was barred from owning animals for 10 years, however a single exception was made to allow him to keep the golden retriever he's had for the last eight years as Judge Koturbash found separating them would be against the public interest.