Just 18 weeks in jail for beating a kitten to death: Drunken thug killed ex-girlfriend's pet to 'punish' her

-Daniel Moran jailed for 23 weeks after killing three-month-old White Stripe and assaulting girlfriend
-'He was going to beat me with the stick but he saw the kitten and said: "The only thing you care about is them."'


By Rebecca Camber


Deceased: White Stripe, left, pictured with two other kittens was attacked with a spindle ripped from a banister during a drunken rage


A thug who clubbed a kitten to death and tossed it out of a window ‘like a rag’ has been jailed for 18 weeks.

Daniel Moran, 37, ripped a spindle from a bannister rail and battered his former girlfriend’s three-month-old pet to ‘punish’ her, a court heard yesterday.

In a drunken rage, he also punched the woman in the face twice, leaving her with serious injuries.


He claimed that the only things she cared about were her three tiny kittens.

The case provoked outrage from animal rights groups yesterday. They said violence against animals was often a precursor to attacks on people.

Moran, an alcoholic, was staying at his ex-girlfriend’s house after being made homeless. On the day of the offence she hosted a barbecue where Moran got into a fight then left to walk his dog, she told Croydon Magistrates’ Court.

He returned and barged into her bedroom at 4am. She told him to leave, but he flew into a rage and grabbed the kitten, White Stripe, and hit it six times.

The woman, who does not want to be identified as she fears for her safety, told the court: ‘He hit me on the bed, then threw me on the floor.

He went out of my room, grabbed the bannister rail and pulled a spindle out.

‘He was going to beat me with the stick but he saw the kitten and said,

“The only thing you care about is them”. I started cowering behind the door. He kept hitting [White Stripe] over and over again and it started convulsing. He grabbed it off the bed and threw it out the back window like a rag. The only word I can use is evil. He was punishing me. The one thing in my life are my little babies.’

He punched her in the face and left the house in Wallington, south London. She called the police. Last week Moran pleaded guilty to assault by beating and to causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.

But magistrates said he should serve just 18 weeks for the attack, which will run concurrently with a 23-week prison sentence for assaulting his ex-partner.

White Stripe was clubbed to death by Moran in a drunken rage


Moran, who is unemployed, was also banned from keeping an animal as a pet for five years. And he was given a five-year restraining order banning him from contacting his ex-partner. Mark Dakin, defending, said his client had a long-standing alcohol problem and had suffered a head injury in the earlier unrelated fight.

A spokesman for Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) said: ‘People like Daniel Moran are utter cowards who take their issues out on the most defenceless beings available. We have seen a drastic increase in cruelty cases in the last few years. History and research shows that thugs rarely stop at animals and that these empathy-impaired individuals often go on to make humans their victims.'


source:dailymail