A 30-year-old man who threw an elderly cat into a charity clothing bank and left it to die avoided a jail sentence yesterday.
Inverness Sheriff Court heard that Mateusz Podlawski’s cruel act was seen by customers at a local shop and police and firefighters freed the distressed animal.
Podlawski had denied that on April 14 last year he put the 18-year-old cat in the container in the Co-op car park in Dingwall with no means of escape, contrary to the Animal Health and Welfare Scotland Act.
But after a trial at Inverness Sheriff Court, Podlawski, of Tulloch Square, Dingwall, was found guilty of the offence by Sheriff Margaret Neilson.
He was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work as a direct alternative to custody.
The court was told that Podlawski had grabbed the cat by the neck, raised it above his head and said: “This cat belongs in the bin.”
Eyewitness Mitchell Ellis, 26, was shocked when he saw Podlawski drop the cat into the container.
He asked him: “What did you do that for?”
Podlawski replied: “It lives in there.”
Mr Ellis told the court: “I said ‘don’t be stupid’. There was no way the cat could get out. I pulled off my jumper and dangled it in the bin in the hope that it would grab it. But all it did was miaow. I thought it might die of fright.”
His then girlfriend, 23-year-old Sheena MacGregor, from Beauly, said: “He had been hovering about the Co-op car park and looked shady.
“Then he threw the cat in the bin. It was one of those that there was no coming out. We were so shocked. We went into the shop and told the staff who phoned the police.”
Scottish SPCA animal rescue officer Ann Shewan was called after police failed in an attempt to open the clothing bin. Shining a torch in, she saw the cat sitting on top of a black bin bag .
“The fire brigade came and used hydraulic cutters to open the bin lid. There was a bang and the cat shot out and ran off.”