On 11 February 2025 the Launceston Magistrates Court convicted a Hadspen resident of 1 count of aggravated cruelty by striking another resident’s Ragdoll cat twice to the thorax with an axe.
The owner who lived elsewhere in Hadspen, when notified by RSPCA officers in August 2023 that his Ragdoll cat named Dixie had been killed by another resident, told RSPCA officers his cat had been missing since July 2023. In July 2023, RSPCA officers received an animal cruelty complaint from a member of the public that they had observed videos on snapchat depicting a dead cat.
Jack Lewis Phillips had complained that the owner’s cat had been coming onto his property and causing a nuisance including attacking his stepdaughter. On the day of the offence, Mr Phillips said that the cat ran into his woodshed, and he chased the cat, and grabbed it. Mr Phillips used the sharp end of an axe, which he says he used to cut wood, to strike the cat to the thorax including the head area and the throat. The body was dumped in bushland. A veterinary pathologist who examined the body confirmed that the cat experienced significant discomfort and distress including severe pain and suffering when the axe penetrated the thorax.
Magistrate Cure who sentenced Mr Phillips said that she was satisfied that the act was of a sufficiently serious nature and that it was not a less serious example of aggravated cruelty. The Court ordered Mr Phillips pay a $5,000.00 fine and also banned Mr Phillips from having custody of any feline for a period of 20 years.
