WEST MIDLANDS, UK – A man has been jailed for a total of 12 weeks for throwing hot water over a cat because she went to the toilet in his garden, leaving her with horrific, permanent injuries.
Jason Kelly, of Wyver Crescent, Coventry, was sentenced at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court today (Thursday, 7 April) having plead guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the cat named Geri earlier this month.
As well as the prison sentence, he has also been banned from keeping animals for 10 years and ordered to pay £538.94 in costs.(About $800.)
The court heard that Kelly threw the water over his neighbor’s cat Geri, a 16-year-old tabby, on 9 October of last year. The water caused deep burn injuries to Geri’s skin, resulting in what a vet said would have been extremely painful for her.
Her owners realized what had happened after she went missing and found her in an intense amount of pain and distress.
It was only when her fur started falling out and her skin looked sore that a vet said she was suffering from various burn injuries, which started to ‘eat away’ at her skin.
The injuries have left permanent scarring to Geri’s body, including a patch on top of her head which has left a part of her skull exposed.
Kelly said he threw the hot water on Geri because he was fed up of her using his property as her toilet.
Inspector Louise Labram said that Geri’s owners have noticed an obvious change in the cat’s behavior since the incident.
“Six months on, Geri is still physically damaged and is not herself. She no longer goes outside, is very clingy and follows her owner around everywhere. It has not only affected her physically, but it has damaged her mental wellbeing too.”
