Coundon man sentenced for cat stamp attack

A man who threw a cat against a wall and then stamped on it has been handed a suspended jail term.

Paul Carrick was prosecuted by the RSPCA after the charity was handed CCTV footage showed him attacking the animal in the backyard of his home in Coundon, County Durham, in December.

At a magistrates' hearing the 43-year-old was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

He has now been sentenced to 23-week prison term suspended for two years.

Carrick, now of Anfield Plain, near Stanley, was also banned from keeping animals for life and ordered to pay victim surcharge of £128 and costs of £2,324.

County Durham and Darlington Magistrates' Court was told RSPCA inspector Christine Nisbet went to an address in Gurlish Terrace, Coundon, after a complaint from a member of the public.

She was shown a copy of CCTV footage, taken from a security camera nearby, and when she went to his home "immediately recognised" him as the man in the film.

The inspector searched two wheelie bins in Carrick's yard, and the yard of a neighbouring property, but could not find any trace of the cat.

However, a vet who was asked to review video clips from the footage said that it was "very likely" that the cat had died as a result of the attack.

Carrick admitted hitting the cat against a wall but denied stamping on it.

Magistrates heard a statement from the vet which said: "It can be clearly seen on the footage that [the cat] was slammed into a wall with considerable force and was thrown to the ground.

"Once the cat was on the ground we cannot see him, but given the man leans on the wall where the cat landed and stamps in the same position three times, disappears from view and reappears to stamp in the same place again I think it is reasonable to assume he was stamping on the cat."

He was then was convicted of causing unnecessary suffering to the cat under the Animal Welfare Act 2006.

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