A man got down on his knees and pleaded with a teenager after his dogs mauled her cat to death in an attack caught on camera.
Shakira Jefferies, 16, was devastated after the pair of Staffordshire bull terriers “ripped apart” her beloved pet Cleo.
The moment the defenceless animal was jumped on by the dogs on the driveway of her home was captured by a doorbell camera.
The dogs’ owner can be seen trying to stop the creatures as they attacked on a Worcester street, last week.
The video captures him dragging one dog by its collar around the corner into a park as the animal still has Cleo clenched between its teeth, while he kicks the other barking pet.
The footage then shows the man apologising to the distraught teenager and her mother, Sharon Boalch, on their doorstep as they break down in tears.
The owner can be heard telling them: “I was in the park and my dogs were following a black cat and they killed him. I was going to take him to the vet.”
At one point he even gets down on his knees and says “I’m so sorry”.
Shakira can be seen weeping as mother cries out: “Dogs should be on a lead.”
Shakira said she saw the dogs attacking the cat and dragging her into a nearby park but didn’t realise it was Cleo until it was too late.
She said: “I was in the front room as it was happening. I didn’t realise it was Cleo until a neighbour knocked on the door and asked if our cat was black and white. I collapsed on the floor screaming. I wish I’d helped her. I’d have rather been injured by the dogs than to lose my cat.
“My mind keeps going back to seeing her dead on the ground. I haven’t slept in days and I can’t eat. She didn’t deserve to die the way she did. I just want my cat back.”
Ms Boalch added: “My daughter could hear all this commotion. She ran outside and saw what happened and came running to me in the back garden, screaming. I was sat on the doorstep crying and I had my daughter in my arms. It was awful. I cried all night. I can’t get it out of my head. And the fact that it happened on my drive, it’s disturbing.
“The footage clearly shows the dogs were out of control and going wild. These were big dogs. They should be muzzled.”
The 50-year-old said the owner of the dogs said he would take Cleo to a vet but she said the family have not heard anything since.
She contacted local vets in the area but none reported having Cleo brought in, meaning the family do not know here Cleo’s body was left.
She added: “We can’t even bury her to say goodbye. We are devastated and my daughter won’t stop crying. We will never get closure.”
The Independent has contacted West Mercia Police for comment.
SWNS contributed to this report.
