Guilty: Mother killed friend's kitten in microwave in revenge for boyfriend being reported to police



A woman killed her neighbour’s ten-week-old kitten by cooking it in a microwave.

Gina Robins, 31, put the pet inside the oven after a row with its owner Sarah Knutton, and then sent her a text which read: ‘The cat? Karma.’

A court heard yesterday that the pair had argued several days before, but Miss Knutton agreed to let Robins use her microwave to heat up a jar of baby food.

Gina Robins: The 31-year-old has been jailed after for cooking a friend's kitten in the microwave

She told magistrates she heard a loud ‘popping’ sound and then a ‘horrendous screeching noise’ come from her kitchen before finding the horrific consequences.

Robins claimed the kitten must have jumped up on to the worktop while fighting with other cats and managed to shut itself in the microwave. But the court dismissed her explanation as ‘far-fetched’.

Miss Knutton told magistrates: ‘She [Robins] was in the kitchen for a couple of minutes and came into the lounge with the bowl of baby food.

‘She was jumpy, really different from when she went to the kitchen. She was fidgety, something was wrong. Then I heard the noise. It was loud like a bag of crisps popping in your hands, then this horrendous screech, a horrific loud screech.’



Cruelty: Two more of Sarah Knutton's cats, whose sibling was killed in a microwave in an apparent 'revenge' attack

Miss Knutton, 35, continued: ‘I said what the **** was that? Gina said she did not hear anything.’

She said Robins went back into the kitchen and then returned with her hands over her face saying: ‘Oh my God, oh my God, I am so sorry, go and have a look yourself.’

Torbay magistrates heard Miss Knutton, a mother of two, was sick when she saw her dead black and white kitten.

Shocked: Sarah Knutton found the dead cat after hearing a screeching noise coming from her kitchen after Miss Robins had been in the room

She said: ‘I was in a state of shock. Gina stared at me. She didn’t say anything. She just stared at me.’

The next day Robins sent Miss Knutton a text which read: ‘Remember the saying “what goes around comes around?” It has started already to bite you in the ****. The cat? Karma.’

Robins denied it was a ‘revenge’ attack after falling out with Miss Knutton, who had called the police about Robins’ boyfriend’s behaviour a few days earlier when he had been shouting outside the house.

She told police: ‘I had nothing to do with putting the kitten in the microwave.’ But prosecutor Iain O’Donnell, for the RSPCA, said it was ‘implausible’ the kitten had crawled into the oven and another cat had knocked the door shut, activating the appliance.

Robins, of Torquay, was found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering and faces jail when she is sentenced next month.

Vet Robert Cameron said the kitten would have suffered. He said its claws were clenched in fear.