Domestic abuser tortured kitten to death in front of terrified partner

An abuser is facing jail after torturing a kitten to death in front of his terrified partner.

Lewis Aitken, 21, who was in a relationship with the woman, also 21, for two years, began to abuse her when she became a mother, Stirling Sheriff Court was told.

He headbutted her, repeatedly punched her in the face and on the body and spat on her.

Mobile phone footage was played in court of her screaming, sobbing and begging for mercy during a four-month campaign of abuse which began in February 2024 and ended in June the same year when she called the police after he killed the kitten.

Stirling Sheriff Court was told the woman was at home in her flat in Alloa, Clackmannanshire, on June 17 last year when she heard a noise coming from a cabinet, and opened the doors to find Aitken’s 12-week-old kitten inside.

Aitken, who’d 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”.

Told by the woman that it was “animal cruelty”, Aitken replied, “I’ll show you animal cruelty”, before taking the kitten by its legs and starting to hit it. Then he threw it across the room.

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

Mr MacKenzie said: “She could feel herself going light-headed. 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.”

People left the courtroom as Mr MacKenzie, the depute fiscal, narrated that MacKenzie’s partner could see that one of the kitten’s eyes was “bulging as if it was falling out” and the animal began to urinate blood.

Aitken blamed what had happened on his partner and put the kitten, 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.”

About 8pm – around five hours later – Aitken’s “focus returned to the kitten”, the court heard.

He kept putting it in the bath to wash the blood off.

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

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

Mr MacKenzie said: “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.”

She persuaded Aitken to put the kitten’s body in an Asda bag, and she called the police the next day.

Officers met her at her mother’s, “evidently distressed and upset”.

Mr MacKenzie said: “She struggled to compose herself as she explained what happened.”

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

Mr MacKenzie said: “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”.

Aitken, of Alloa, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to injuring the woman as part of a course of domestic abuse and causing death and suffering to the kitten.

Solicitor Robert Smith, defending, said Aitken had no previous convictions, and no other matters outstanding.

Mr Smith said: “He has underlying mental health problems.”

The court heard, however, that Aitken had been assessed by a psychiatrist and a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity had been ruled out.

Sheriff Euan Gosney deferred sentence until October 29 for a criminal justice social work report and an assessment of Aitken’s suitability for post-release supervision following a potential jail term.

He was banned from owning, keeping or taking charge of any animal with immediate effect.