Teenager ‘cooked’ cat alive
A TEENAGER microwaved a cat to its death because he thought it was saying things about his mother, a court has been told.
Jamie Lee Blake told police how he loved the animal, which he named Buddy, and fed it tuna and cheese – before arguing with the cat and putting it in the microwave.
The 19-year-old appeared before Bury St Edmunds magistrates on Wednesday when he admitted a charge of causing unnecessary suffering to the cat.
The incident happened in sheltered accomodation at John Room House, in Thetford, on September 27.
Prosecutor Sarah-Jane Atkins said Blake, of St Edmunds Court, Thetford, had made a number of comments to fellow residents at the house, saying that he had killed the cat.
“He was actually laughing about this to the other residents saying he put the cat in the microwave for three minutes and killed it,” Miss Atkins said.
“He appeared to be quite jovial, so nobody believed him.”
Then, somebody saw what looked like fur near his room. CCTV was reviewed and the cat and the microwave were both found in a bin area.
During police interview, Blake said he loved the cat and had taken it up to his room to feed it.
But he said the cat began talking and it made comments about his mother’s now deceased ex-partner giving her heroin – and so he killed it.
“He said he knew it might sound horrible, but what the cat was saying to him was horrible,” Miss Atkins said.
She said Blake, who takes cannabis, was no longer welcome back at the sheltered housing scheme.
Kieran Dunphy, representing Blake, said: “There are underlying mental health issues here because clearly this is a young man who is not in the right frame of mind.”
Magistrates adjourned sentencing until October 30 for psychiatric reports.
They also jailed him for eight weeks after Blake pleaded guilty to stealing £6 of food from the Jet Garage in Thetford, breaching a four-week suspended sentence given for shoplifting.
Alison Arnold, manager at John Room House, said: “We don’t allow pets but the cat was a stray. We are a shelter for homeless people and the residents saw this cat as being in a similiar situation and befriended it.”
“It has been really traumatic for the residents and staff. Everybody is devastated but we have all pulled together to support each other.”
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Monday 20 May 2013
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