Animals were tortured, killed online for money

WARNING: This story contains graphic descriptions of animal abuse readers may find disturbing.

WINNIPEG — A Winnipeg man and woman have admitted to torturing and killing animals for a paying online audience.

Irene Lima, 56, and Chad Kabecz, 41, appeared in court Friday and pleaded guilty to six counts of animal cruelty, involving the intentional killing of 90 animals between May and October of last year.

Lima crushed the animals to death with her bare feet, while Kabecz recorded the killings, videos of which were shared with paying customers via a chat group where Lima was known as “Goddess May.”

Animals killed by the couple include 67 cats and kittens, six rabbits, seven birds, six hamsters, three goldfish, two rats, one frog and a salamander.

The videos depict Lima “stomp(ing) on the animals until they are essentially a paste of blood, entrails and bones on the floor,” Crown attorney Boyd McGill told King’s Bench Justice Jeffrey Harris.

The torture killings came to light in August 2024 after an anonymous tipster called the province’s animal care tip line, reporting they had come across a chat group on the dark web called Goddess May Barefoot Premium Crush, which sold and shared videos of animals being crushed to death underfoot.

A price list set out what customers would pay to see Lima “crush” a range of animals. For $5, customers could watch her crush a baby mouse; for $180, a family of kittens.

The tipster shared screenshots and videos with authorities and “through their own sleuthing” determined the makers of the videos operated out of Manitoba, McGill said.

A subsequent investigation by Winnipeg police led officers to a Hugo Street condo occupied by Lima and Kabecz in October 2024. No animals were found in the suite, but it was “clearly the location where the videos were filmed,” McGill said.

Police seized the couple’s electronic devices and uncovered “a trove of videos showing the killing of many animals,” McGill said. Many of the cat videos “had sexual aspects to them,” with Lima “making loud sexual noises and purporting to masturbate to orgasm as the cat dies.”

Text exchanges between the two accused showed them discussing the videos and “plans to escalate their behaviour,” McGill said.

Police seized Lima’s diaries, which included her writing “how much she loves killing things with her feet and the pleasure it brought to her.”

A review of the couple’s PayPal account revealed they had been paid $2,800 for killing animals between May and October 2024.

Lima and Kabecz remain in custody and will be sentenced at a later date following the preparation of court-ordered pre-sentence reports.

Court did not hear what sentence will be recommended for the two accused.

The Crown “will be recommending something that is proportionate to the offences and each of their moral responsibility,” McGill said, adding prosecutors will be recommending the same sentence for both.

“(They) are well aware of where the discussions are in terms of a joint recommendation.”

With the couple’s guilty pleas, the Crown stayed several additional charges, including four bestiality-related offences for both accused, conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, possession of proceeds of crime and accessing child pornography.

» Winnipeg Free Press