Man jailed for torturing kitten to death and abusing partner

A man who tortured a kitten to death in front of his partner during a campaign of domestic abuse against her has been jailed for four years.

Lewis Aitken, 21, gave the woman a black eye, headbutted her, repeatedly punched her in the face and body and spat on her.

His abuse of the kitten led a sheriff to say that in his 30 years in the criminal courts, he had "never seen a more atrocious act of animal cruelty".

Aitken was also banned from keeping animals for life and handed a non-harassment order banning him from contacting the woman for 10 years

Warning: This story contains distressing details

Mobile phone footage was played in Stirling Sheriff Court of the woman screaming, sobbing and begging for mercy during a four-month campaign of abuse which began in February 2024.

The abuse ended in June the same year when she called the police after Aitken killed the kitten.

The court was told the woman was at home in her flat in Alloa when she heard a noise coming from a cabinet.

She opened the doors to find Aitken's 12-week-old kitten inside.

Aitken, who had been asleep, flew into a rage because she had released it.

He said he had left it in the unit on purpose so it would see him as "a saviour".

The woman told him it was "animal cruelty" and he replied "I'll show you animal cruelty."

He took the kitten by its legs and started hitting it before throwing it across the room.

Prosecutor Duncan MacKenzie said when the woman tried to stop him, he grabbed her by the neck and squeezed.

"She could feel herself going light-headed," said Mr MacKenzie. "She tried to stop him and he let go, then slapped her on the face four or five times.

"Then he turned back to the kitten and continued to beat it with his hands."

Aitken blamed what had happened on his partner, and put the kitten - which at the time was still alive - in a chest of drawers.

Mr MacKenzie said: "She [Aitken's partner] was begging him to stop, but he would not.

"She was hyperventilating. She was frightened as she wondered what he was capable of if he could do this to a cat."

Around five hours later, Aitken's "focus returned to the kitten" and he put it in a bath to wash the blood off.

Aitken's partner "heard it screaming and had to cover her ears because the sound was so horrible", said Mr MacKenzie.

After a time, Aitken came out of the bathroom and said he did not know what to do.

The prosecutor added: "He retrieved the kitten and wrung its neck in front of her before throwing it to the ground.

"As he raised his leg to stamp on the kitten, she ran away into the living room. She believes the cat died at that point."

The woman persuaded Aitken to put the kitten's body in an Asda bag, and she called police the next day who met her at her mother's home.

A post-mortem examination found the kitten's spine was severed completely in two places.

Mr MacKenzie added: "The head was held on only by skin, with the underlying veins, arteries and other structures entirely severed.

"There were skull fractures, fractures to the hind legs, and herniated organs in multiple locations."

A veterinary pathologist said it was "one of the most violent attacks on an animal he had ever encountered".

The injuries would have caused "significant pain before the kitten succumbed".

Solicitor Robert Smith, defending, said Aitken could not remember killing the kitten.

As well as his four-year jail term, Sheriff Keith O'Mahony imposed a two-year extension on Aitken.

This will be served in the community after his time in custody, during which he can be recalled to prison if he reoffends.

Sheriff O'Mahony said Aitken's behaviour towards his partner was "alarming" for someone who at the time was only 20 years old.

He said Aitken had been assessed by a social worker in a background report as having "simmering anger and frustration".

The sheriff said: "That assessment is clearly borne out by his appalling actions where he killed a kitten by a mechanism which I am not going to repeat.

"Suffice to say that when the matter was originally narrated, members of court staff had to leave the courtroom, so upset were they by what was being described.

"For my part, in three decades in the criminal courts, I have never seen a more atrocious act of animal cruelty. It was a brutal and wicked act."

He told Aitken: "Given your appalling conduct, I see no valid reason why you should ever have access to another animal.

"You are hereby disqualified from owning, keeping, taking possession of, or taking charge of any animal for the rest of your life."