Kitten killer banned from keeping animals for a decade

A Brighton man who killed a kitten and inflicted severe injuries on another has been disqualified from owning all animals for 10 years.

Tabby kitten Prince was found in a shoebox which Michael Sweetman, 28, had buried behind his home in Allingham Place, Ovingdean, by the family which had rehomed it to him.

The police were called, and then the RSPCA, which took another kitten, Tinkerbell, which was living with Sweetman. Tinkerbell was found to have a broken tail but has now recovered.

In May, Sweetman pleaded guilty to inflicting violence on the two kittens, and last week he was sentenced at Worthing Magistrates Court.

The court heard written evidence from RSPCA Inspector Charlotte Beaumann, who had inspected the exhumed shoebox when it was found in July last year.

She said: “Inside was a deceased tabby male kitten wrapped in a towel. I could immediately see that there was a large haematoma [lump] on the kitten’s left ear and some bruising, there also appeared to be some bruising on the other ear too.”

X-rays revealed Prince had received a number of significant, unexplained injuries. A post-mortem revealed he had a fractured pelvis and a possible rib fracture. There had also been a fracture in his tail.

When interviewed, Sweetman claimed Prince had fallen into the toilet which contributed to Prince’s eventual death.

However, the severity of Prince’s injuries were not consistent with having fallen into a toilet nor was there any evidence that Prince had drowned when post-mortem tests were carried out.

Post-mortem tests on Prince’s body found no underlying disease that could have rendered his bones more fragile and prone to fracture, leading to a conclusion that Prince had been repetitively injured via significant blunt force trauma.

An overarching veterinary expert for the RSPCA reviewed the evidence and concluded Prince had been repetitively injured to a degree that had caused multiple bone fractures.

The report said: “Prince died as a consequence of having sustained severe blunt force trauma injuries while in the home environment which included a depressed skull fracture.

“From the evidence provided such an injury cannot be reasonably explained other than by the mechanism of physical abuse.

“The nature and characteristics of the injuries sustained by Prince are very highly suggestive of Prince having been forcefully held by the skin at the scruff and the neck and thrown to collide with a blunt object resulting in the fractured bones along the left side of the kitten’s body.

“In such circumstances Prince would have experienced pain as a consequence of the subcutaneous tissues being torn and would have suffered fear and distress for a period of several seconds prior to sustaining the severe head injury.”

Tinkerbell was found to have sustained a fractured tail vertebra similar in nature to that was sustained by Prince. She recovered in RSPCA foster care and has subsequently been rehomed.

At a sentencing hearing on Monday 11 August at Worthing Magistrates’ Court Sweetman was sentenced to five months’ imprisonment suspended for 12 months, following an RSPCA investigation and prosecution.

Magistrates ordered him to complete 150 hours of unpaid work, 20 Rehabilitation Activity Requirement days and a six-month alcohol treatment requirement.

After the sentencing hearing, Charlotte said: “It’s completely unacceptable to treat any animal in this way and we will always look into reports of animal cruelty and, where necessary, seek justice for that animal.”