Man convicted over throwing cat down seven-storey garbage chute
A man has been convicted of two horrific cases of animal cruelty after deliberately injuring his girlfriend’s cat because he was jealous of the attention she paid it.
The 21-year-old from Chippendale, in Sydney’s inner west, threw his partner’s Ragdoll cat, Hibala, down a seven-storey garbage chute on April 27 last year.
The couple returned home in the evening and commenced a search for the cat, which they found at the bottom of the apartment complex’s garbage chute.
The court heard Hibala had been left in the man’s care, and was found to have injuries so severe, a vet determined two-thirds of its tail had to be removed.
Hibala was released into the care of his owner after four days recovering in hospital.
On July 1, the man was convicted and fined $3,000 at Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court, and placed on a two-year community corrections order.
In a separate incident where Hibala was left in the care of its owner’s partner while she was overseas, the man caused more injuries to the defenceless cat.
“In a photo she requested from the defendant, she noticed an injury on Hibala’s nose. She asked the defendant to take the cat to a vet, but after he refused, a friend of hers collected the cat and took him to a vet,” an RSPCA release stated.
“Hibala was found to have a severe wound with fractured bones in his front left paw, and minor injuries to his eye, ear and nose.”
The animal required surgery and six days in hospital to be treated for dead, damaged and infected tissue around one of his paws.
His after-surgery treatment included being administered pain relief, antibiotics and having several bandage changes.
The man was fined an additional $3,000 for this case and ordered to complete a three-month intensive corrections order.
He was also banned from purchasing, acquiring, and taking possession or custody of any animal for 10 years.
“I don’t know what to say to [the defendant]. I have no idea what to say to a person who places a cat in a garbage chute,” Magistrate Still said upon the man’s sentencing.
“The early guilty plea is the only thing keeping [the defendant] out of jail.”
RSPCA NSW Chief Inspector Scott Meyers expressed his horror at the distressing nature of the case.
“Hurting an animal out of pure jealousy, one that belongs to and is loved by your partner no less, and letting it suffer over a prolonged period of time is a shocking display of callousness,” Mr Meyers said.
Hibala was discharged and given back to his owner when she returned from overseas, and the pair moved into a new apartment without the man.
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