A cruel father who killed his son’s ten-week-old kitten after throwing it from his 16ft high apartment balcony because it soiled his sofa was jailed today.
Dollkeith Anthony Jarrett, 46, was allegedly heard yelling that he would kill the animal just hours before its tiny black and white body was found dead on the ground outside his flat.
The animal was found 28 feet away from the building by a neighbour and a post-mortem revealed that it had died from a blunt trauma consisting of falling from a height.
Jarrett initially denied harming the animal, or throwing it off the 16ft high balcony of his flat.
But he later changed his plea to admit to the lesser charge of failing to protect the animal from pain, suffering, injury and disease by his abuse which led to its death.
He maintained that he did not intentionally throw the kitten off the balcony.
[...]
He was sentenced to
16 weeks in custody, revoking an unrelated community order, and was
banned from owning animals for ten years.
[...]
Mark Harper, prosecuting, for the RSPCA, said: 'In the early hours of 20 January at 4:30am, a witness heard him in the flat above saying, ‘I’ll f****** kill it.’ then, ‘it’s dead, it’s f****** dead. It’s s*** all over my f****** home. It’s f****** dead. I wouldn’t mind but I have got everything for it to s*** in.
'Then at 7:30-7:40am the witness went outside to put her bin out and saw the body of a black and white kitten near her gate, no more than 10 or 11 weeks old.'
[...]
The court heard how Jarrett had frantically searched for a similar-aged black kitten the next day on the internet from a private advertiser in Warrington, Cheshire.
Mr Harper said that, after speaking to Jarrett, RSPCA inspector Vicki McDonald made enquiries with his daughter who confirmed that he had bought another cat as a 'replacement'.
[...]
Defending, Karibo Lawson said: 'He has kept animals for years and had no problems whatsoever; dogs, cats, and also he bought another one straight after this incident.'
Mr Lawson said that his client was 'not happy that the kitten had done what it did”, but added that “he would say that he did not throw the kitten down.'
He also said that if he had thrown the kitten out of the balcony that it would have been 'splattered all over the place,' which was not the case.
He confirmed that his client had previously been given a conditional discharge for having a 'dangerous dog out of control,' but said the dog was not his.
[...]
Jarrett was banned from keeping animals for ten years, and the replacement cat and his dog have now been taken in by one of Jarrett’s daughters.
He intends to appeal his sentence.
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