Photo: Nicholas Johansen
Leighton Labute leaves the Kelowna courthouse in June.
Reader advisory: This story contains disturbing content.
A young Kelowna man who filmed himself killing three hamsters and posted the video online avoided jail time Wednesday, but he'll remain under court conditions for the next 4.5 years.
Leighton Labute, now 21, was arrested in May 2020, a year after he bought three hamsters from Kelowna's PetSmart, killed them and posted the video to Reddit. After pleading guilty to one count of killing, maiming, wounding or injuring hamsters in June, Labute was sentenced Wednesday to an 18-month conditional sentence order, followed by three years of probation.
A conditional sentence order, also known as house arrest, is served in the community. Labute's conditional sentence order includes a curfew, where he must be in his parent's home between the hours of 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.
The sentence handed down by Judge Paul Dohm was a joint submission by the Crown and defence, which Dohm called “fit and appropriate.” The Crown and defence noted Labute's low IQ, severe autism spectrum disorder diagnosis and evaluated low risk to reoffend as reasons Labute should avoid jail time.
During sentencing Wednesday, the court heard the grisly details of how Labute had killed the three hamsters in May 2019 – one by stabbing and amputation, one by drowning and crushing, and one using a microwave. He had preplanned the killings, writing his detailed plans in his diary prior to the incident.
Labute uploaded the video of the killings to his YouTube page, titled “One kid, three hamsters,” and then posted the video to a number of unsuspecting subreddit pages to shock viewers. The subreddits included “Animals being geniuses” and “Aww” – pages where animal lovers go to find cute photos and videos.
Crown prosecutor Maegan Richards said Labute wanted to “ruin people's day.”
Judge Dohm declined the Crown's offer to show the video in court during sentencing.
A Reddit user in the United States who stumbled upon the gruesome video did some of her own investigation, tracked the uploader to Kelowna and alerted the Kelowna RCMP in May 2020. Local school officials helped police identify Labute, and officers executed a search warrant at his parents' home shortly after.
In addition to a “little dissection kit,” police found recipes for poison gasses like chloroform and chlorine gas in his diary, a list of “types of people I hate,” and note of a restricted firearm licence centre and gun store located in Kelowna.
When police questioned Labute about the video, he admitted to the killing and said he had done it because he was “bored” and because he was “entertained by it.” He said he didn't feel any remorse for the killings, but the killings hadn't made him feel much at all. He also admitted to stepping on and killing a baby duck in the past.
Richards said Labute had told police he had “thoughts about killing men and women,” but that he “would never hurt anyone.”
But separate psychiatric and psychological reports conducted by two different doctors labelled Labute a low risk to reoffend, both against animals or by escalating to humans.
“It was a deeply misguided cry for attention by the young man,” said defence counsel Julian van der Walle, paraphrasing one of the doctors who interviewed Labute.
“I think he probably felt invisible his whole life as a result of his autism and social awkwardness that he had and a lack of any real friends throughout his life.
“His life thus far has been characterized as one of isolation, alienation, and at times even victimhood as he was the target of severe and aggressive bullying in grade school as a result of his autism and the usual social difficulties often brought about by autism. This act of violence against the hamsters ... appears to be the result of isolation and immersion in gory content on the internet that snowballed into a foolish and obviously disturbing attempts at gaining attention or notoriety by putting something shocking on the internet.”
Van der Walle said Labute wasn't even aware that hamsters felt pain, “because they were very small,” or that the killing of hamsters was illegal.
“When asked why people in the community might be upset with what he did, he expressed that hamster owners would be upset because they like hamsters,” Van der Walle said, highlighting Labute's lack of understanding about the situation.
Van der Walle also noted that because Labute is “severely challenged” with low IQ and autism, he's likely to never live independently as an adult.
But Labute's parents remain supportive of him, and he'll remain under nightly curfew at their Kelowna home during his 18-month conditional sentence order. Conditions of his conditional sentence order and three-year probation period also include no attending pet stores, attend any counselling as directed by his probation supervisor and not to use any social media.
“I understand and will comply,” Labute told Judge Dohm, the few words he spoke during the hearing.
Van der Walle noted that Labute's parents' home was vandalized some time after the charges were laid.
“I hope the community understands that the Labutes are good people,” Van der Walle said “Their son has very serious intellectual deficits who obviously did something terrible as a cry for attention They don't deserve the community's condemnation nor do they deserve their house vandalized.”
