A woman who drowned her cat before stuffing it in her freezer because the animal made a mess in her kitchen has avoided jail.
Truro Magistrates said Rosie Zolla committed an 'abhorrent act of animal cruelty' when she killed the pet named Nana McPhee, a black and white male.
She pleaded guilty to two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal but won't spend Christmas behind bars, CornwallLive report.
The court heard that the cat, which she’d had for six months, was acting up in the kitchen of her home in Newquay, Cornwall.
Zolla took the animal upstairs and placed it in the bath before drowned him, according to a post mortem examination.
The 28-year-old then took the body of the cat and placed it in the freezer.
RSCPA prosecutor Tamsin Murphy said: “RSPCA inspector Kempson attended on February 19 2021 with a police officer, following reports Zolla had deliberately drowned a cat and put the body in a freezer.
“She let them in and admitted that she had put the cat in the bath, and put its body in the freezer. She had the cat for about six months, and asked how it died she said she put it in the bath.”
Zolla was handed an 18-week prison sentence, suspended for two years.
She was told to pay £400 in costs and £128 as a victim surcharge, as well as undertake mental health and alcohol rehabilitation days.
She was also banned from keeping pets for ten years with no chance of it being appealed sooner, despite protestations from Zolla’s defence.
The magistrates said: “We considered the matter carefully and we reached the conclusion that it is certainly past the custody threshold. This was really horrible cruelty to an animal, and we have no doubts in our minds it past it. However I’ll tell you we’ll suspend the sentence.
“But first I want it made abundantly clear that we found this whole act of animal cruelty abhorrent. Utterly unacceptable madam.
“The fact the sentence we’ll pass is being suspended is not to be taken as any indication of this bench feeling this is not of the upmost gravity. It is.”
They continued: ”We were asked by our legal advisor why we were suspending this. We actually have two reasons. The first is your previous good character, second we actually have some belief in rehabilitation here.
“That is the reason this is not an instant custodial sentence.
"Our guidelines quite clearly say we can only suspend a sentence if we honestly believe that if the power was not there to suspend it we would send you straight to prison today. I tell you quite candidly we passed that threshold without a doubt.”
