Young girl heartbroken after yobs kill her kitten with a 40ft running drop-kick



A heartbroken girl has issued an emotional plea to help trace a teenage yob who killed her kitten by drop-kicking it 'like a rugby ball' a distance of 40ft.

Tia Duke, seven, has been in floods of tears since the pack of thugs were seen manhandling pet Tasmin before one took a run-up and booted the defenceless animal into the air.

A horrified neighbour saw the incident and alerted Tia's mother Julie who then found the stricken animal lying in a crumpled heap in the gutter.



Hurt: Seven-year-old daughter Tia Duke and mum Julie have appealed to catch the thugs who killed Tia's cat Tasmin by drop-kicking it

Happy: Tia cuddles Tasmin the cat in the months before it was killed by yobs in Plymouth, Devon

Tia of Plymouth, Devon, yesterday pleaded for anyone with information to come forward and help catch the thugs.

She said: 'I know that Tasmin is dead and it's too late for her but I just want these people to be caught so they won't do it to any other animals.

'She was so important to me and I loved her very much and have been left very upset by what has happened.



'I'm begging anyone who knows anything to tell the police.'

A neighbour watched as the gang of teenagers picked up the cat before passing it around outside their family home.



They were then stunned to watch one yob take a huge run-up before drop kicking the helpless animal, which they said landed around 40ft away before the lad ran off.

Tia's mother Julie, 45, said: 'I just hope they catch whoever did this and they pay for what they have done. They have broken Tia's heart. She is devastated.

'Neighbours told us about it on Friday night, They came to the door and said it was our cat. As far as I know, a group of lads grabbed her and tossed her around.

'It is horrible and I'm absolutely disgusted. She was only a small four-month-old cat. Why would anyone think it's OK to do something like that?'

Julie, who works as a mealtime assistant at a local school, had bought the cat for Tia as a Christmas present.

She added: 'I broke the news to her on Saturday. She has been really upset ever since, going around telling everyone, "My cat is dead. My cat is dead".

'We'd only just started letting Tasmin out. We'd kept her inside for three months.

'I'm not letting our two other cats out now. I don't want anything to happen to them.'

Devon and Cornwall police branded those responsible for the attack 'sick and cruel'.

A spokesman added: 'Officers were called to an address after a resident saw a young man 'pick up a cat and drop kick it into the air as if it were a rugby ball.

'The witness heard the cat screech and land about 40ft away.

'This was a sick and cruel attack on a defenceless animal and somebody's much loved pet.'

The offender is described as a white male, aged 15 or 16. It is believed he was one of a group of four youths.