A favour for friends — that's what convicted animal torturer Nicolino Camardi was doing when he was caught with his neighbours' cats and dog in his home, according to Vern McCarty and Michelle Pelletier who say they are racked with guilt over the incident.

"I feel sick to my stomach, I feel really bad," said Pelletier, who lives with McCarty across the street from the accused.

However, it was a condition of Camardi's probation that he not live with animals and not drink alcohol, so he is now facing new charges.

"It's unfair, he was trying to do a decent deed," said McCarty.

Police alleged they found a dog, two cats, beer and marijuana in Camardi's home last week.

But Pelletier and McCarty say their house across the street was being fumigated, so they asked Camardi if they could come over with their pets — Marie, Star and BamBam — for several hours.

The couple say they had no idea Camardi wasn't allowed to be around animals.

"I really didn't know his situation," said Michelle Pelletier. "If I had known, I wouldn't have put him in that position."

Nicolino Ivano Camardi faces four new charges of breaching his probation conditions. He's accused of living with animals and consuming alcohol and/or drugs. (Facebook)

Pelletier says she was in Camardi's home the whole time except when she ran across the street to lock her door after the fumigation was finished. By the time she came back, she says police had descended on Camardi's home.

The couple believes Camardi was embarrassed or scared to tell them they couldn't bring their animals over and that's why he told them they had to stay in the home too.

Camardi is charged with four counts of breaching his probation conditions.

Animals starved, beaten

In 2014, Camardi — who was 18 years old at the time of his arrest — pleaded guilty to two charges of animal cruelty after a two-year-old husky and a kitten were found dead in a southeast alley with their muzzles taped shut.

A necropsy found the husky died of starvation while the nine-month-old kitten had been strangled and had suffered other injuries to its body.

Camardi abused the animals over a period of two to three months. He got them from a family who was giving them away on Kijiji.

Camardi appeared in court Thursday. He has a new lawyer who will set a date for a bail hearing on Feb. 22. The Crown has indicated it will oppose his release.