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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Douglas Whitbread & Thomas George

Drunk woman with 'satanic side' repeatedly stabbed cat then put it in the freezer with her ready meals

A drunk cat owner stabbed her pet up to ten times before putting it in a freezer with ready meals.

Suzanne Bennett, 48, knifed the black and white moggy, named Poppy, after consuming three bottles of white wine.

She then dumped the critically ill pet inside the kitchen appliance alongside her frozen ready meals before calling police to confess.

Officers arrived at Bennett's home in Radcliffe to hear the distressed cat meowing from inside the freezer and found she had sustained stab wounds to her leg and neck.

READ MORE: Moss Side shooting victim 'suffered multiple gunshot wounds' in attempted assassination

She was later treated by a vet and made a miraculous recovery. She is now in the care of the RSPCA.

At Wigan Magistrates Court, Bennett, who has two other cats, admitted causing unnecessary suffering and was spared jail.

She was ordered to complete a 18-month community order after JPs were told she has severe mental health issues.

Bennett told the hearing she carried out the attack as she has a ''angel side and a satanic side.''

She said: "I had three cats for ten years, which were ten, nine and eight. I had them since they were eight weeks old.

"I treated them like they were my children. I looked after them before I looked after myself.

"I do not know how many times I stabbed them, by the way.”

Bennett was also ordered to complete a nine month alcohol treatment requirement was fined £100 and told to pay £300 in vets’ bills and £95 in costs.

She was disqualified from keeping any animals for five years.

Anna McDonald, prosecuting, told the court a vet found the cat had been stabbed 'multiple times', and had wounds 'ranging from a one-millimetre puncture to a four-centimetre puncture'.

She added: "It’s the vet's opinion that Poppy suffered from chronic pain as a result of her wounds.

"The vet also said the cat suffered mentally due to the injuries and from being confined in the freezer.''

Bennett later told police she suffered from depression and, for the past ten years, had 'heard voices in her head.'

Ms McDonald added: ''She said on the night in question, she said she had drank three bottles of wine and at 3am had gone into the kitchen, grabbed a a knife and then stabbed the cat.

Suzanne Bennett was spared prison at Wigan and Leigh Magistrates Court (Adam Vaughan)

"She then followed it upstairs and stabbed it again before watching TV and then going to stab it again.

''She said she turned the freezer to a high setting because she wanted to end the cat’s life.

"She said she had an 'angel side' and a 'satanic side' and the 'angel side' had told her to get help.''

Bennett had no previous convictions.

Her lawyer Jed Frazer said in mitigation: “This is a distressing incident both for the cat and Miss Bennett because she had three cats.

"She had them for eight, nine and ten years respectively, and none had come to any harm from her.

“She loved those cats and described to me that she loved them as if they were her children. She says they were always well looked after, and often, they were fed better than her.

''In the probation report, it suggests that she said in the interview that she suffered from moderate depression. It’s more than moderate. It’s quite severe.

"She had been in bed for two weeks and didn’t get out, other than to feed the cats. She has a severe mental health problem and doesn’t want to keep any animals again. She is clearly very remorseful.''

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