Police say a Yarmouth man with more than 48 prior criminal charges in Massachusetts killed his roommate’s six-month-old kitten with his bare hands on Tuesday night. Randy Newell, 46, was arrested when officers responded to a West Yarmouth home for a fight over the alleged killing of the animal.

An officer found Newell in the Jerusha Lane home wearing pants “covered in blood spatter’’ and with “a blank look on his face’’ after a woman claimed he has crushed the head of her kitten, Simba, killing him.

Newell has a history of violence towards police. He was taken into custody and held overnight at police headquarters. He was arraigned in Barnstable District Court this morning on animal cruelty charges including killing or maiming an animal.


Animal control officials assisted in the investigation at the home, which police say they have visited about 100 times this year for numerous disturbances, drug offenses, assaults, and intoxicated incidents.