The merciless killing of a cat by a 25-year-old female is believed to have preceded the alleged murder of a man in Oxford, England, according to prosecution.
In 2021, the accused, Scarlet Blake, is believed to have lured an unsuspecting cat into a crate with food. After capturing the trusting cat, she reportedly killed the defenseless animal on camera. The body of the cat was then dissected with a scalpel and put into a blender, according to The Independent.
Four months later, the same woman allegedly murdered a 30-year-old stranger. The woman struck the victim in the back of his head, then tried to strangle him with piano wire before pushing him into the River Cherwell where he drowned, according to Central Fife Times.
“It is clear that in her own mind she made a connection between what it felt like to harm this cat and what it would feel like to harm a person,” Prosecutor Alison Morgan told the jury, according to The Independent.
This case serves as a sad reminder that animal abuse often escalates to violence against humans.
“The defendant’s actions towards the cat show planning, in particular the purchasing of equipment necessary to do what she wanted to do to this cat, and demonstrated a fixation with what it would feel like to cause harm to others,” Prosecutor Alison Morgan told the jury, according to The Independent. “They reveal her grotesque pleasure in causing harm to a cat.”
Neither of these two victims deserved to experience such senseless violence.
According to the FBI, serial killers often start out, sometimes as children, by torturing animals. Additionally, adults who abuse children frequently harm companion animals as well.
Animals are feeling, living beings who experience fear, pain, love, and other emotions like we do. Cases of animal abuse deserve to be treated seriously, for the protection of animals and humans alike.
