Crime
The man admitted to stepping on the cat, grabbing it by the tail and neck, and slamming it on the ground head-first.
Sage, the cat who a Cambridge man admitted to abusing. MSPCA-Angell
June 28, 2026 | 7:53 PM
2 minutes to read
A Cambridge man pleaded guilty to animal cruelty after he repeatedly abused his cat, court records show.
Jaydan Depina, 22, admitted guilt June 11 in Middlesex Superior Court on six counts of animal cruelty. He was sentenced to 90 days in prison, followed by two years of probation, according to court records.
On or about July 5, 2025, Depina abused a one-year-old male domestic shorthair cat named Sage. During the abuse, he kicked Sage, stepped on him, slammed him onto the ground, grabbed him by the tail and neck, and threw him out the window, records show.
Surveillance footage showed Depina approaching Sage outside 59 Norfolk St. in Cambridge. He grabbed the cat by the tail and kicked him twice before trying to reenter the building, according to court filings.
Depina continued the abuse by slamming Sage head-first onto the ground three times over, swinging him by his tail, pinning him to the ground, and standing on him. The footage then showed Depina grabbing a motionless Sage by the neck and carrying him into the building.
Cambridge police, along with law enforcement for the Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA), investigated the case. They learned that, immediately before the abusive acts seen in the security footage, Depina had thrown Sage out of one of the building’s multi-story windows and onto the pavement.
Depina was indicted in August 2025 and initially pleaded not guilty to six counts of animal cruelty, records show. He faced a maximum penalty of seven years in state prison, but prosecutors recommended a sentence of up to a year in prison due to his “young age and minimal criminal record.”
Sage suffered multiple bilateral fractures in his paw bones, signs of blunt force trauma and tail trauma, suspected displacement of his tail vertebrae, and nerve damage to his perineum. Depina later admitted to an MSPCA officer that he attacked Sage because the cat bit him, according to court filings.
Signs of further injuries on Sage indicated a history of abuse, according to animal protection organization In Defense of Animals. However, he has since been recovered and “adopted into a loving home.”
In September 2025, the organization sent a letter to Middlesex County District Attorney Marian Ryan petitioning for the maximum sentence in the case. The letter received more than 12,000 signatures.
A Middlesex judge ordered that Depina stay in Massachusetts, receive mental health treatment, and avoid contact with animals, records show. He was further ordered to continue programming at Charlestown Adult Education, maintain housing through the Liberty Village housing facility or a similar program, and earn his high school equivalency through HiSET.
“We thank members of the Cambridge justice system for treating this case with the seriousness it deserves,” Doll Stanley, In Defense of Animals’ Justice for Animals senior campaigner, said in a statement. “We respect prosecutors and judges when mental illness is a factor in egregious crimes and require mental health evaluation, treatment, and programs that are designed to ensure abusers are accountable for the trauma they cost their victims.”
Depina’s attorney, Caleb Koufman, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday evening.
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