A bizarre B.C. cat-killing trial has been extended as the court hears evidence on the alleged 'felicide.'

John Ronald Hughes, a 24-year-old Fernie resident, is facing two counts of animal cruelty for his alleged role.

The one-day trial was expected to conclude on Thursday, but the hearing has been extended and the court will now reconvene in early July.

The story dates back to Valentine's Day 2005, when Sara Kons said she and Hughes, who was her boyfriend at the time, went for drinks at the Fernie Hotel.

Afterwards, she told the court, the couple returned to her home where she fell asleep while Hughes stayed up.

Kons said she later woke up to screaming, and Hughes told her the cat -- which was obviously in pain -- had been injured.

"Kons testified she believed Hughes when he told her the injuries were accidental. She says the cat was suffering. She asked him to break its neck and end the pain," said CTV Calgary's Elissa Carpenter.

According to Kons, Hughes wouldn't put the cat out of its misery and it lay on the floor convulsing, and eventually died.

She testified to the court that she believed Hughes when he told her the cat had been injured accidentally.

Three weeks later, Kons testified, she became suspicious after a second incident occurred.

Kons was out with friends, and said she returned home to find Hughes covered in scratches. There were also patches of fur on the stove and blood in the bathroom.

This time the cat survived.

Amanda Race, a witness in the trial, corroborated Kons' version of events, and he was charged with causing unnecessary pain and suffering, and willfully inflicting pain and suffering on an animal, in addition to a firearms offence.

But Hughes has his defenders as well as his detractors in the close-knit mountain community.

"I spoke to Hughes. He was polite and quiet but did not with to comment on camera. But Fernie's a small place. Friends gathered outside of court say Hughes doesn't deserve all this attention," Carpenter said.