Krys-Ryan Saito-Carino stands next to his attorney Deputy Public Defender Danielle Sears, as he is sentenced to jail and probation for stealing and killing the pet pig Eddie. The Maui News/Gary Kubota

A 21-year-old man was sentenced to four years probation and five days in jail on Wednesday for the theft and killing of a pet pig named “Eddie” from an animal sanctuary.

Krys-Ryan Saito-Carino, 20, of Waiehu cut a fence at the Kitty Charm Farm property in Haiku to commit the theft in May 2024. With an accomplice, he then pretended Eddie was wild, killed the pig and used him to enter a hunting contest on Maui to win a $1,000 prize.

The pig’s owner, Sarah Haynes, had hoped for more jail time.

“To sentence somebody for five days that trespassed and broke into my property and stole a pet and did all the things he did, all the egregious crimes against that animal, and film it and put it on social media, and lied for a straight year about his involvement — I think that’s is unjust,” she said.

Deputy prosecuting attorney Mica Metter had asked the court for a year in jail.

On Wednesday, Second Circuit Court Judge Kirstin Hamman deferred Saito-Carino’s guilty plea, saying she didn’t feel he was likely to repeat his crimes. Explaining her decision, Hamman said Saito-Carino also had no prior juvenile or adult criminal record and had a full-time job.

Under Hawaii state law, a judge has the option of sentencing a defendant to a deferred sentence. Upon completion of the terms explained by the judge, including probation, the defendant may ask the criminal charges be expunged from the record.

Hamman said the sentence did not diminish the crime.

“You were not hunting that day,” she said. “You stole and brutally killed that pig.”

During sentencing, deputy public defender Danielle Sears asked the court to consider that her client committed the crime when he was 20 years old as an “emerging adult.” Sears said there were two cultures in the courtroom — one that looked at animals as pets and another that viewed them as livestock — and that Saito-Carino was unaware Eddie was a pet.

In court, Saito-Carino apologized for his crimes.

“I’m sorry for the action and what I did,” he said.

Prior to the hearing, more than 25 people held a rally outside the courthouse and chanted, “No excuse for animal abuse. Commit your crime, do your time.”

Protestors hold signs Wednesday near Maui Circuit Court calling for a tougher sentence for a man who killed a pet pig. The The Maui News/Gary Kubota

Haynes said she also disagreed with Hamman’s sentencing of the other man involved in the crime — 19-year-old Jayden Jarnesky-Magana — who spent a night in jail and was also ordered to serve four years of probation.

According to court records, the theft took place between May 11-12, 2024. Haynes said Eddie was very friendly and let children hug him, despite him being abused in the past.

She said Eddie was found in Kihei with scars and rope burns, indicating he had been used to train hunting dogs, and she brought him to her animal shelter in July 2021.

Sarah Haynes said her pet pig Eddie was very friendly and she wanted tougher jail sentences for the two men who broke into her property and killed him. The Maui News/Gary Kubota

She said she discovered Eddie and three other pigs were missing in May of last year and noticed the fence had been cut.

Haynes said that after the theft, she posted a notice on social media about Eddie. Then she received phone calls and saw pictures of Eddie after he had been killed.

“They posted everything on Instagram of what they did,” Haynes said.

Haynes said most of the callers were hunters who didn’t believe the two men had killed a wild pig.

“He’s grain fed, neutered and the two couldn’t carry him from the truck,” she said.

Haynes said she believes Saito-Carino was the ring leader who developed the plan, brought the wire cutters to cut the fence, roped and dragged Eddie to a place away from the animal shelter and shot him in the head.

Saito-Carino pleaded not guilty to the charges of cruelty to animals and theft of livestock on Aug. 1, 2024, but changed his plea to no contest on April 23.

Haynes said the police and prosecutor’s office had been extremely helpful, and she agreed with the prosecutor’s sentencing recommendations for Saito-Carillo.

“I didn’t want to ruin his life, but I definitely wanted a stronger jail sentence,” she said. “My reason for wanting to see jail time is to stop other people from making these kinds of crimes.”