CONVICTED (2014) | Mark Booth, born c. 1960, of Lowes Hill, Ripley DE5 3RB – strangled a tabby cat to death.
Booth said he had strangled the cat, known as Oli, by pressing on his windpipe but the court heard it appeared he had dislocated the cat’s neck, “causing a great deal of unnecessary suffering”.
John Sutcliffe, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said the vet who examined the cat after his death “was clear the death was not instantaneous”.
He said this was because; firstly, the cat had weighed 3kg and any animal over 1kg would need to be stunned first in order to cause no suffering; secondly, the cat had been described as “extremely affectionate” but had scratched him quite badly; and thirdly, Booth had said the cat had taken 20 seconds to die.
The evening it happened, Booth had returned home from the pub having drunk two pints and told his wife the cat had worms.
Booth’s wife said she would get something to treat it the next day but her husband went on to say the cat was “a nuisance, it’s annoying and it’s got to go”.
Booth then said: “I’m going to kill it, I’m going to do it now.”
Mr Sutcliffe said: “The defendant then picked up the cat. She (Mrs Booth) thought he was just taking it out to the garden. Then probably two to three minutes later she heard the sound of the wheelie bin lid being shut.
“He walked back into the house and she described him as being covered in his own blood from scratches to his arm.
“He said to his wife ‘the cat won’t bother you any more. I have killed it. I have strangled it. It had to go.”
His wife had then left the house “extremely upset” and they have since split up.
Sentence 14-week suspended jail sentence, 200 hours’ unpaid work, £2,045 costs. Banned from owning animals for life.
Another Mentally Disturbed Scum,
He Won’t Have No Luck For What He Has Done.
At Least Now His Face Is Out There.
Everyone Knows What He Has Done.