A Devon woman is alleged to have microwaved the animal after a row with its owner

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

A woman faces jail after been convicted of killing a kitten by microwaving it after falling out with the animal's owner.

Gina Robins, 31, put the pet into the microwave while at the home of its owner, Sarah Knutton.

Knutton heard a loud popping noise "like a crisp packet being popped", followed by a "screeching" noise. When she went into the kitchen and saw what had happened to the kitten she was sick in the sink.

Magistrates in Torbay, Devon, were told that shortly before the incident Knutton, 30, had made a complaint about Robins's partner.

After the kitten had died, Robins sent a text message to Knutton saying: "Remember the saying: 'What goes around comes around?' It has started already to bite you in the arse. The cat? Karma."

Iain O'Donnell, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said: "It is our case that the defendant put the kitten in the microwave and cooked it to death."

Robins, of Torquay, had denied a single charge of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

She claimed that the microwave was accidentally turned on by one of the cats after the kitten got inside.

But Knutton, giving evidence, claimed the kitten was too small to even get on the work surface.

In a statement read in court, Colin Cameron, a vet who examined the dead animal, said there was "no doubt the kitten would have suffered unnecessarily" before dying.

The chairman of the bench, Liz Klyne, told Robins her evidence was "far-fetched" and "inconsistent".

"We find it implausible that a kitten of 10 weeks of age could climb up on to a work surface and get into a microwave and then another cat closed the door," she said.

"We find you deliberately placed the kitten in the microwave, which ultimately caused its death."

She warned Robins the magistrates would look at all sentencing options, including prison, when she is brought back before the court next month.