Kitten bash and burner jailed

Photo / thinkstock

A Waikato man has been jailed for 18 months for bashing a kitten and then burning it to death, all in front of his five-year-old granddaughter.

Shane Karekare, 46, was sentenced in Te Awamutu District Court yesterday on one charge of wilfully ill-treating an animal.

In January he returned home after a few drinks and when the kitten got in his way he threw it down on a concrete path and kicked it in the head, Fairfax Media reported.

Despite the pleas of his granddaughter he then threw it in an incinerator in the backyard, put cardboard on top and lit it - killing the kitten.

Karekare was also disqualified from owning an animal for 10 years.

Judge David Ruth said Karekare's granddaughter would have nightmares because of the killing. "I can hardly think of a more cruel act."

SPCA national chief executive Robyn Kippenberger was pleased to see another lengthy sentence handed down.

Changes to the animal protection legislation last July, which increased the maximum period in jail from three to five years, were starting to take effect, she said.

Last month Mathew George, 44, of Te Kuiti, was also jailed for 18 months for bludgeoning a six-month-old puppy to death with a golf club.

The previous toughest sentence imposed for an animal cruelty crime was 12 months' jail for Jeffrey Hurring, who in 2009 killed his Jack Russell dog after strangling it, pouring diesel down its throat and then hitting it over the head with a spade.

His sentence was later reduced to 10 months.

- NZPA