In court: Declan Garrity, 24, outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday

An Irish banker living in New York appeared in court last night (Mon) accused of torturing his roommate's cat as it emerged he faces up to four years in jail.

Declan Garrity, 24, appeared anxious as he appeared before a judge at the Manhattan Criminal Court accused of battering the 8lbs animal in an 'especially depraved or sadistic manner'

He had shaven off his beard and wore a smart suit for the brief hearing in which he was given an order of protection banning him from contacting the cat's owner.

Garrity, a financial adviser with Barclays in their New York office, is accused of ripping out the nails of black, white and brown Lucy - and setting her tail on fire.

His roommate claims that the abuse went on for three months and that when she asked him about it he told her an iron fell on her pet.

X-ray pictures of the car, showing the extent of the injuries, were also released today, ABC7 News reported.

Garrity, from Omagh, County Tyrone, appeared in court on Monday having been bailed for $5,000 after his arrest on Thursday morning at 7.50am.

He has been charged with two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, a felony offense which carries a prison sentence of between one-and-a-third to four years.

Recovering: Lucy, seen before she was injured, can purr again. A GoFundMe page has been set up to help her owner deal with the cost of the veterinary bills to nurse her back to health

Injuries: These X-ray images show the extent of the fractures suffered by Lucy

Accused: Declan Garrity was accompanied by an attorney after appearing at Manhattan Criminal Court, New York, to answer felony charges of aggravated animal cruelty

Garrity, who is thought to be in the US on a work visa, is also accused of one count of torturing and injuring animals.

Three-year-old Lucy has been in intensive care and was being fed by a tube since her teeth were broken too, but is now said to be recovering and has begun to purr again.

During the court hearing Garrity was told by Judge Joanne Watters that he could not have any contact with the owner of the cat, who has publicly only given her name as Danielle, including texts and emails.

He will be allowed to return to the apartment they had shared on New York's Upper East Side for two hours on Tuesday to collect his belongings but will first have to stop by a local police precinct to have an officer escort him.

Garrity spoke only to confirm that he understood before being led out of court where he declined to answer any questions.

Garrity is said to have tricked Danielle by telling her that he grew up around cats so that he would ask her to move into last November.

However whilst she was at work in her nursing job he is said to have attacked her pet.

Garrity is said to have abused Lucy until the morning of February 20 when Danielle finished her shift and came home to find her cat cowering in her carrier.

Her back foot was bent in the wrong direction and she was missing fur, it is alleged.

According to the criminal complaint, Danielle went to the police and vet Dr Robert Reisman carried out an inspection of Lucy.

He found she had recently suffered a number of injuries within the last few days.

They were a dislocated right tibia bone, a fractured right tibia, broken teeth, severe inflammation to her mouth, burns to the tail, anal area, right thigh and left thigh.

Dr Reisman also noted that Lucy had broken claws and what the complaint described as 'severe muscle injury'.

Danielle has said that only then did she realize that Lucy's odd behavior in recent months had been due to Garrity allegedly abusing her.

Animal lover: Declan Garrity had allegedly convinced his roommate that he had grown up around cats so that he would ask her to move into last November.

According to the criminal complaint, since November Lucy has been acting strangely including hiding in Danielle's bedroom closet, not eating and 'constantly licking her paws'.

Lucy's pelvis was broken on January 25 and Garrity is said to have told Danielle that an iron fell on her whilst she was at work.

Danielle, 29, has so far spent $12,000 on veterinary bills for Lucy and has set up a Gofundme page to help pay for them, raising $2,500 so far.

She has said that Lucy was 'noticeably staying away' from Garrity but she never suspected what he was allegedly doing.

She said: 'I thought it was weird. I was like: "How can we get the cat to like him?" Your mind doesn't go straight to: 'He's doing something to my cat".

'It's nauseating. I've been disgusted with everything...I thought he was the best roommate I ever had. It's bizarre'.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Garrity attended the Christian Brothers Grammar School in Omagh and studied at the Queens University in Belfast.

He then attended the Hult International Business School in Boston, and joined Barclays in New York as a financial analyst in October 2014.

His LinkedIn profile says that he has done volunteering in Russia, South Africa and Mozambique.

He describes himself as a 'market orientated professional' who prides himself on his 'tight work ethic'.