Two teenagers, who tortured and killed kittens in the woods because the boy wanted to ‘reduce his urges to kill humans’ have been locked up and banned from owning pets again.
The boy, 17, and girl, 17, who cannot be named due to their age, both pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to an animal and possession of a bladed article in a public place.
At a sentencing hearing at Highbury Magistrates Court today, the male defendant was sentenced to 12-months in a secure youth centre while the female defendant recieved a nine-month sentence.
District judge Hina Rai told the 17-year-old boy that the killings were ‘without a doubt the most awful offences against animals I have seen in this court’.
Earlier this year, two eyewitnesses saw the couple holding hands as they approached a secluded part of a footpath in Ruislip, northwest London, carrying a black animal carrier with cats inside, the court heard.
Armed with knives, a blowtorch and scissors, the pair dismembered the kittens and then left their mutilated bodies behind.
One kitten was recovered hanging from a tree from rope.
The kittens that the defendants killed were sourced through legitimate websites where owners sell pets.
The pair falsely indicated they were legitimate buyers and paid for the animals in cash.
During police interview, the male defendant laughed when he was shown images of the weapons recovered at the scene.
Meanwhile the girl suggested she wanted to dissect the animals due to her interest in biology.
A member of the public who discovered the mutilated kittens on May 3rd warned another passerby not to go down the footpath because ‘there is something horrific down there’.
In sentencing the judge told the boy that his actions were ‘extensively planned’ and ‘clearly premeditated’.
Judge Hina Raijudge added: ‘You said sorry in your (police) interview but reports also show that you struggle to show empathy and realise that the kittens would suffer.
‘It seems you chose the kittens because they have emotion and you would have power over them.’
Notes found on the boy’s phone detailed his desire to murder people too.
He had previously written: ‘I really wanted to murder someone.
‘Every day I was researching how to get away with murder.
‘I have come close. I have killed cats to reduce my urges.
‘I have skinned, strangled and stabbed cats.’
Prior to this offence, the boy – who has reportedly suffered with depression, anxiety, hallucinations and self-harm – had no previous convictions.
Earlier, prosecutor Valerie Benjamin told the court the boy’s actions ‘showed a degree of planning in terms of looking for animals and researching in terms of killing animals and his desire to go on to killing humans and how it would be to get away with murder and killing a homeless person’.
The horrific scenes were not a ‘spur of the moment’ event but involved planning in ‘finding the animals, taking them to a public place and killing them in such a sadistic manner’.
Stephen Hancock of the Crown Prosecution Service added: ‘This was an unimaginable act of cruelty on two defenceless animals which caused immense shock across our community.
‘The manner in which these teenagers left the kittens was deeply disturbing and distressing.
‘Instead of letting them hide behind their age, the CPS put forward the strongest possible charges to ensure they faced the full consequences of their actions.
‘Whatever their motivation may have been, both defendants have now been disqualified from ever owning a pet and will have to live with a criminal record for the rest of their life.’
