A man has been jailed for throwing an eight-week-old kitten at a wall breaking his eye socket, leg and crushing his teeth.
Adam James Urquhart, 30, from Medowie in New South Wales’ Hunter Region, bashed Gizmo, threw him more than three metres across the room and stepped on him in February 2016.
He also pushed Gizmo’s face into a litter box and said ‘stay in the f***ing kitty litter’, according to a witness.
Urquhart unleashed the abhorrent act of cruelty on the Russian Blue kitten as punishment for urinating on the carpet, RSPCA NSW reported.
Eight-week-old Gizmo (pictured) suffered a broken left eye socket, broken leg and broken teeth in the attack
Urquhart pleaded guilty to an animal cruelty charge when he appeared in Newcastle Local Court on Tuesday.
He was sentenced to a three-month fixed jail term.
Following the attack, Urquhart was taken into police custody in relation to separate domestic violence charges.
Magistrate Sharron Crews said being refused bail on domestic violence charges likely saved Gizmo’s life.
Urquhart unleashed the abhorrent act of cruelty on the Russian Blue kitten as punishment for peeing on the carpet (Gizmo’s broken leg pictured)
When Gizmo was taken to the Tighes Hill veterinary Hospital after the attack on February 16 last year, they said his injuries were consistent with serious trauma
In sentencing on Tuesday Magistrate Crews said: ‘I don’t want to draw parallels between domestic violence and acts of cruelty to animals, but the victims in each case are very vulnerable’.
‘(Urquhart) should be very ashamed of this offending towards a vulnerable animal,’ she said.
When Gizmo was taken to the Tighes Hill veterinary Hospital after the attack on February 16 last year, they said his injuries were consistent with serious trauma.
He sustained a broken right foreleg, injured left eye, broken left eye socket, and broken teeth.
Gizmo has since made a full recovery and has been adopted into a new home.
Gizmo (broken teeth pictured) has since made a full recovery and has been adopted into a new home
‘It is incomprehensible and truly sickening how any person could bash and abuse such a defenceless baby animal in this manner, and we’re glad to see the courts take this very seriously,’ Mr Meyers said (Gizmo’s broken leg pictured in an X-ray)
RSPCA NSW deputy chief inspector Scott Meyers welcomed the jail term handed down to Urquhart.
‘It is incomprehensible and truly sickening how any person could bash and abuse such a defenceless baby animal in this manner, and we’re glad to see the courts take this very seriously,’ Mr Meyers said.
In addition to his three-month jail term, Urquart was prohibited from owning an animal for 10 years.
He was also ordered to pay Gizmo’s veterinary costs of $2721.04 in the next 28 days.