October 29, 2008
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
Wire Service: AP
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/29/state/n180912D42.DTL&type=politics
A Santeria priest accused of decapitating and mutilating animals during religious rituals has been ordered to stand trial in Torrance.
Rafael Giralt is charged in Superior Court with felony animal cruelty. Prosecutors say he decapitated pigeons, roosters, chicks and a turtle, and dismembered a goat for religious sacrifice.
Giralt, who is free on $20,000 bail, says he is a priest of Santeria, a Caribbean blend of West African beliefs and Catholicism.