Cat killer facing jail

• Wayne Flower
• From: Herald Sun
• March 03, 2010 12:00AM

A VICIOUS thug who drowned eight cats including six kittens before bashing their heads in with a claw hammer faces two years in prison.

Robert John Raymer, 59, of Bonbeach pleaded guilty in Frankston Magistrates' Court yesterday to brutally killing his own pets after neighbours complained about one of them killing possums.

The court heard Raymer told police it was easier to kill them than deal with the problem.

"I was sick and tired of people whingeing about them so I drowned the bastards," he said.

Police prosecutor Sen-Constable Peter Shelton said Raymer drowned the cats in a laundry sink on October 20 last year before bashing their heads in and discarding them in a bin.

He was arrested later that day when he tried to bash his daughter's boyfriend in their own home, calling him a "black —-" and smashing the family car's windscreen with a rock.

"It's a shame it wasn't his head," Raymer later told police before threatening to burn down the victim's home.

Raymer pleaded guilty to aggravated cruelty to animals, unlawful assault, two counts of criminal damage, making threats to kill and threatening to damage property.

Defence lawyer Sharon Lacey argued Raymer was suffering from the side effects of two anti-depressant drugs when he killed the cats.

She told the court Raymer had been an experienced boner who grew up around slaughterhouses and farms where animals were often killed.

"His plan was never to torment them. It was irrational despair," she said.

"It was not the right thing to do."

Magistrate Martin Grinberg said the community would not tolerate cruelty to animals.

"People who show cruelty to animals will be punished severely," he said.

"We're the ones who choose to domesticate them and look after them."

Mr Grinberg told the court he had no intention of releasing Raymer with anything but a prison sentence.

Raymer will reappear at Moorabbin Magistrates' Court on April 13.