Cat Killer jailed in Darwen
51 year old Sajad Hussein hit the cat so hard with he end of a mop it suffered several skull fractures
A man who beat his partner’s cat with a mop with such force that she died from horrific injuries has been prosecuted by the RSPCA.
Sajad Hussain deliberately hit the six-month-old feline, known as Kia, while she was lying on a bed at his former girlfriend’s flat in Darwen.
The animal suffered several skull fractures and passed away the next day, after the defendant had prevented his former girlfriend from taking her to the vets.
51 year old Hussain, of Ripon Street, Blackburn, pleaded guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to the cat under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 and appeared for sentencing at Preston Crown Court on March 14.
He received a five-month prison sentence, which will run consecutively to a 35-month sentence imposed for an unconnected drug offence, giving him a total of 40 months.
Hussain was also banned from keeping animals for life.
Hussain’s former partner said in a witness statement to the court that the cat had been in bed with her on November 26, 2021 when the defendant dragged the feline by a lead out of the bedroom. He returned saying he’d taken the cat for a walk, but when she jumped back on the bed he lost his temper.
She said:
“He said, ‘that’s it’ and picked her up. She hissed at him and that really annoyed him and he took her out of the bedroom. I went to the toilet and then I heard Kia screaming and he was shouting,” stated the former partner.
“He called her a name and the screaming and shouting went on for maybe 20 seconds. Sajid came into the room and said ‘I have hit her with the mop and there is blood all over - I think I have killed her’. I ran into the spare room and Kia was on the bed and the bedding was covered in blood. There was blood in her ears and on her feet and legs. She was gurgling because her mouth was full of blood.
“I wrapped her in a blanket and I told him I wanted to take her to the vets, but he wouldn’t let me and said ‘no, I will get into trouble’. I couldn’t argue with him as he was like possessed and I was too scared.”
Hussain’s former partner called the RSPCA the next day and the animal charity’s inspectors Alison Fletcher and Susie Micallef searched the property.
In her statement to the court, inspector Fletcher, said the defendant’s ex-partner told her the room had been cleaned and curtains and bed stripped by the defendant during the night, although there were some small blood marks on the side of a bed and on the wall. The inspectors found the cat’s body wrapped in a brown blanket in another bedroom at the property.
A post-mortem revealed the cat had sustained several skull fractures as a result of blunt force trauma. Scans also showed she had received several rib fractures which were likely to have been inflicted four to six weeks before.
Speaking after the sentencing, inspector Fletcher said:
“Kia’s loss is greatly felt by her owner and it is a testament to her bravery in speaking up that justice has now been carried out on Kia's behalf and that no other animal shall be placed at risk from the defendant in the future.”