Talking Footy

SMH wrote:

Hunt for boys who tortured kitten
January 20, 2005 - 4:05PM
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Hun ... 64032.html


Teenagers who tortured a kitten may escape new, harsher animal cruelty penalties if police suspicions are correct and they are juveniles.

Instead, they may only get counselling, RSPCA chief inspector Don Robinson said today.

Three boys caught on closed circuit TV (CCTV) stoned, stomped on and twice ran over an eight-week-old kitten with a bicycle at Sydney's Seven Hills railway station around 2.30am (AEDT) on Saturday, police said.

"We will take it as far as we can ... we'd like to see the full weight of the law brought against these people if it's possible," Mr Robinson said.

"(But) they come under the young offenders Act if they are juveniles and police may well deal with them as a counselling service.

"But we should wait and see what happens here."

The stray was kicked onto the train line after being brutalised and left for dead.

But she survived, rescued by police called to the platform by a stationmaster.

"The cat was for some reason retrieved from the line and brought to the platform where the atrocity, and I say atrocity, was committed," Blacktown Local Area Commander Superintendent Les Wales said today.

"This was a pathetic incident - sickening in every sense of the word - and we need support from the public to help identify these offenders."

Named Shelley after one of the officers who saved her, the kitten is recuperating well after two operations to heal broken bones and internal injuries.

She is being put up for adoption by the RSPCA, which has been caring for her.

Changes in 2003 doubled the penalty for aggravated animal cruelty to a $22,000 fine and/or two years in jail.

But Supt Wales said the CCTV indicated the attackers were aged under 18 years and would therefore escape the harshness of the penalty set for adults.

"That's a matter for the courts. The matter for us and the RSPCA is to put this matter before the court," he said.

And while he subscribed to a criminology theory that young animal torturers have a predisposition to violent crime later in life, Supt Wales was also concerned at the apparent lack of parental control.

"I have a difficulty with young male persons being out unaccompanied, without any sort form of parental supervision, at 2.30am," he said.

"I guess I speak as a father on that particular issue, but the fact is I believe those capable of such an horrific crime could do anything."

One of the three is described by police as having distinctive orange hair and possibly being of Pacific Islander appearance.

The other two were of white/European appearance, wearing dark T-shirts, jeans and baseball caps.

They also had a near-new blue bicycle, possibly a Christmas present.

Police intended releasing the CCTV footage today.

AAP

EvilGeee. wrote:

I'm not a fan of kittens/cats, but I abhor cruelty to animals of any kind. Regardless of their age, these turds should be hit with full extent of the law.

Beaussie wrote:

SMH wrote:

Hunt for boys who tortured kitten
January 20, 2005 - 4:05PM
http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Hun ... 64032.html


Teenagers who tortured a kitten may escape new, harsher animal cruelty penalties if police suspicions are correct and they are juveniles.

Instead, they may only get counselling, RSPCA chief inspector Don Robinson said today.

Three boys caught on closed circuit TV (CCTV) stoned, stomped on and twice ran over an eight-week-old kitten with a bicycle at Sydney's Seven Hills railway station around 2.30am (AEDT) on Saturday, police said.

"We will take it as far as we can ... we'd like to see the full weight of the law brought against these people if it's possible," Mr Robinson said.

"(But) they come under the young offenders Act if they are juveniles and police may well deal with them as a counselling service.

"But we should wait and see what happens here."

The stray was kicked onto the train line after being brutalised and left for dead.

But she survived, rescued by police called to the platform by a stationmaster.

"The cat was for some reason retrieved from the line and brought to the platform where the atrocity, and I say atrocity, was committed," Blacktown Local Area Commander Superintendent Les Wales said today.

"This was a pathetic incident - sickening in every sense of the word - and we need support from the public to help identify these offenders."

Named Shelley after one of the officers who saved her, the kitten is recuperating well after two operations to heal broken bones and internal injuries.

She is being put up for adoption by the RSPCA, which has been caring for her.

Changes in 2003 doubled the penalty for aggravated animal cruelty to a $22,000 fine and/or two years in jail.

But Supt Wales said the CCTV indicated the attackers were aged under 18 years and would therefore escape the harshness of the penalty set for adults.

"That's a matter for the courts. The matter for us and the RSPCA is to put this matter before the court," he said.

And while he subscribed to a criminology theory that young animal torturers have a predisposition to violent crime later in life, Supt Wales was also concerned at the apparent lack of parental control.

"I have a difficulty with young male persons being out unaccompanied, without any sort form of parental supervision, at 2.30am," he said.

"I guess I speak as a father on that particular issue, but the fact is I believe those capable of such an horrific crime could do anything."

One of the three is described by police as having distinctive orange hair and possibly being of Pacific Islander appearance.

The other two were of white/European appearance, wearing dark T-shirts, jeans and baseball caps.

They also had a near-new blue bicycle, possibly a Christmas present.

Police intended releasing the CCTV footage today.

AAP

Glasgow Celtic wrote:

string the bastards up from a lamppost, or do to them wot they did to the kitten. simple as