Israeli police said Thursday they arrested a 42-year-old Hungarian man in Nazareth after he brutally killed a kitten, an act investigators described as unusually cruel.
The suspect, who had traveled to Nazareth to study the New Testament, was taken into custody after officers in the northern district received reports of the killing. Witnesses said the man slammed the kitten against a metal dumpster, stepped on its head and threw it aside.
Video shows a 42-year-old Hungarian man in Nazareth violently killing a kitten near a metal dumpster
(Video: Israel Police)
Police said the man admitted during questioning that he believed the animal was “a creation of the devil.” According to investigators, the suspect told them the kitten had meowed repeatedly and disrupted his studies, prompting him to kill it.
Officials said that a day earlier the same man had taken the kitten into his room, fed and bathed it, and later released it back to the street.
Following an investigation, prosecutors submitted a declaration of intent to indict him. A formal charge is expected to be filed Friday, along with a request that he remain in custody until the end of legal proceedings.
Superintendent Rotem Dai, head of investigations at the Nazareth police station, said officers acted quickly after receiving video evidence of the attack.
“The cruelty he displayed was exceptional,” Dai said. “Within a short time of receiving the report, we located and arrested the suspect, and since then we have been working to ensure justice is served. The Israel Police will act firmly and uncompromisingly against any abuse of defenseless creatures.”