Youth puts cat in microwave
Youth put friends kitten in a microwave oven
A youth from Fofar was sentenced for cooking his friend’s kitten in a microwave oven.
Abuse and eggs was hurled at Declan Baker as he was escorted from the town’s sheriff court in a police van. Baker admitted placing the four-week-old kitten in the oven and turning it on on October 17 last year. The kitten’s wounds were so serious it was put down six days later, after a local veterinary surgeon was unable to save it.
Baker was prohibited from keeping animals for 7 years and sentenced to 120 hours’ community service and ordered to pay compensation of £150.
Sheriff Kevin Veal said: “Any responsible person would find it hard to imagine a worse case of animal cruelty.”
Fiscal depute Donna Brown said Baker’s friend had on the day, entered the kitchen to find Baker there with the microwave oven switched on and the kitten inside.It was taken out of the microwave and put on the kitchen floor, distressed and clambering to breathe.Baker left the house after an argument followed with his friend but was traced by police at his own house at about 4.30pm that day. He stated to the police that the kitten had been in the oven for about 10 seconds and showed regret at what he had done.
The kitten was initially treated for swollen legs, but by the following day its body was swollen and on October 23rd the skin on its legs was dead. It was Senior inspector Mark Lumgair, of animal welfare charity the Scottish SPCA, who had contacted the police following an anonymous tip-off about what had happened to the kitten. He said later the organisation was satisfied with the sentence but had anticipated Baker would be given a lifetime ban on keeping animals “It was a dreadful act. What had possessed Baker to do such a thing is beyond me,” he said. “Ultimately, we at the Scottish SPCA were looking for an outright ban but the sheriff has to consider background and, based on this, he has gone for a seven-year ban which goes some way to address that.”