Gareth McGarry jailed for slitting cat's throat
A man who used "unimaginable cruelty" to kill a cat while a child was present has been jailed for nine months.
Gareth McGarry admitted battering the cat off a kitchen wall before slitting its throat, at a flat in Glasgow's Gorbals area, on 5 September 2014.
The 34-year-old was caught after his partner told his sister and police and animal welfare officers were informed.
At Glasgow Sheriff Court, Sheriff Johanna Johnston ordered that he does not own or keep animals for five years.
McGarry pleaded guilty to killing the cat after his trial had started.
The court heard McGarry had been socialising with family before he went back to the flat he shared with his girlfriend Sara Melville.
As she watched a DVD with a seven-year-old boy, she heard banging noises coming from the kitchen as well as "screeching" and "meow noises".
The court heard Ms Melville believed the noises were the cat being hit off of the floor and the wall in the kitchen.
After killing the cat McGarry put the dead animal outside the flat.
The following day Ms Melville texted McGarry's sister, Kirsty Davenport, and told her what he had done.
Ms Melville also said the child was screaming and that she had to tell him that McGarry was helping the cat.
Ms Davenport contacted her mother, who told a friend who then alerted the police.
The following day the police and officers from the Scottish SPCA arrived at the property where they found the dead cat outside with its throat cut.
The animal was taken away and found to have a seven centimetre slit on its neck and bruising.
The white T-shirt McGarry had been wearing was also seized and had the cat's blood on it.
It emerged in court that McGarry has a long history of violence and a criminal record spanning 20 years.