September sentencing set in cat killing

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

An East Boston man will be sentenced next month in Suffolk Superior Court for an incident in which he stomped a cat to death, stuffed the carcass in a paper bag, lighted it on fire, and tossed the burning package through the window of an East Boston apartment building.

Luigi Epifania, 25, appeared before Judge Charles Spurlock today. The judge scheduled a sentencing hearing for Sept. 4 on both the animal cruelty and arson charges and on assault and battery charges from a separate case.

Prosecutors say Epifania was looking for an acquaintance on Princeton Street on June 13, 2007. He was unable to locate him and eventually fell asleep on the steps of a building. When he awoke, he spotted the cat, which he initially treated with kindness. He told authorities he “lost it” and then stomped and kicked the cat, which went by the name of Nunu, Suffolk County prosecutors said.

When he realized the cat was dead, he put it in the bag, doused it with lighter fluid and tossed it into the building where a resulting fire caused “significant damage’’ to the first floor of the building, prosecutors said.

Epifania's attorney, James Greenberg, has said he was coerced into confessing in the case; prosecutors have denied that.

The assault and battery charges, which Epifania pleaded guilty to today, stem from a June 11, 2007, assault in East Boston. Prosecutors and Greenberg say Epifania and the victim were heroin users who became enraged at one another, and Epifania attacked the other man with a knife, forced him into a shower, and attacked him with a hot frying pan and hot water.

Greenberg said the two men at the time were strung out on heroin. They were friends before the attack and are friends today, he said.

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