Just days after a judge sentenced a teen to two years behind bars for putting a kitten in an oven, investigators say they have uncovered another heinous act of animal cruelty in the city.
Lordtyshon Garret, 31, is accused of terrorizing and killing his mother-in-law's pet cat with an umbrella in October. The suspect allegedly poked, stabbed, and beat the 4-year-old cat named Madea while staying at his mother-in-law's Brooklyn home — perhaps because his in-law told him to get a job and move out. According to the Daily News, when the cat was having trouble breathing a day after the beating, she was brought to the vet's office, where she was euthanized.
After investigators found bits of black plastic from the umbrella in the cat's litter box and recovered a scratched-up umbrella that contained both the cat's DNA and Garret's, they charged him with felony animal cruelty — which carries a maximum two years in jail. When questioned by his brother-in-law about the attack, Garret — who is being held in lieu of $3,500 bail — apparently said: "Damn, I left a smoking gun." Garret's mother-in-law, Deborah Bender, remains broken up about her cat's death. "She was more than just a cat...I'm not having any more kids — some grandkids maybe — but that was my baby right there."
