No jail for teenager who killed cat with bow and arrow

Peter Hardwick
Reporter
Peter started in 1976 as apprentice typesetter/comp and has 32 years with The Chronicle in three stints (in between working/holidays in UK/Europe, Brisbane and Melbourne). Entered editorial from comp room in 1996.

"It's an absolutely disgusting way of going about putting down an animal," Mr Schemioneck said.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Tony Costa told Toowoomba Magistrates Court police had been called to Usher's home on a report of a man killing a cat on the afternoon of April 27 to find him nervous and shaking.

Usher had admitted to police that he had just killed a cat in the back yard, he said.

He told police his ex-girlfriend had bought the young cat some months earlier but she had since moved to New South Wales leaving the cat with him.

Usher told police he told his ex-girlfriend he couldn't afford to feed the cat and that no-one else wanted it and that she had then told him to kill it.

He said he tied the cat to a paling on the back fence and fired arrows from a bow at it, eventually killing it, Sgt Costa said.

Asked by police why he hadn't given the cat to the RSPCA, Usher said he hadn't thought of it.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of animal cruelty.

He also pleaded guilty to a non-related matter in being found with a pocket knife in his pocket when spoken to by police outside the Cube Hotel on May 24.

Duty solicitor Brad Skuse told the court his client's doctor had been exploring possible mental health issues with his client and he was on a mental health treatment program.

His client had no previous criminal history at all and had fully co-operated with police, Mr Skuse submitted.

Mr Schemioneck said he took into account the teenager's youth, his mental health problems and the media attention his case would attract in reducing the sentence to two years probation and not recording a conviction.