Weymouth woman accused of stomping kitten to death in drunken rage
By Jessica Trufant, The Patriot Ledger
A North Weymouth woman is facing an animal cruelty charge after authorities said she stomped her kitten to death in a drunken rage.
Eleanor M. Campbell, 35, of 5 Saunders St., Apt. 1, is charged with animal cruelty and disturbing the peace, the Patriot Ledger reported.
Judge Mark Coven released Campbell on personal recognizance Monday at her arraignment in Quincy District Court. Norfolk County Assistant District Attorney Courtney Kiernan had asked Coven to hold Campbell on $5,000 cash bail with conditions that she not have custody of any animal and abide by orders from the state Department of Children and Families.
Police responded to the multi-family home just before 9 p.m. Friday on reports of a possible domestic incident. The officer found a woman, later identified as Campbell, standing in the driveway, and asked if she had been fighting with anyone in her apartment, how much alcohol she had consumed and if she was OK.
Campbell said she hadn't been fighting with anyone and had drunk one and a half beers, but she did not cooperate with the officer, according to the police report. The officer asked Campbell to go inside for the night and to keep the noise down, police said.
Fewer than 10 minutes later, police were called back to the home on reports of a woman outside throwing things at a neighbor's car. The officer said he found Campbell outside wearing only a T-shirt and socks, yelling at the neighbor's window.
The officer arrested Campbell for disorderly conduct and put her in another officer's police cruiser to be taken to the station.
The officer said he found a small bloodied kitten with what appeared to be a broken neck in front of the car parked in the driveway.
"The kitten appeared to have been stomped and flattened by someone," the officer wrote in the police report.
Police said Campbell said her daughter was in the apartment, but no children were found inside. The officer said Campbell was the only one in her apartment and outside in the driveway both times, and it appeared that she killed the kitten in a "fit of rage" induced by alcohol.
A detective at the police station collected Campbell's socks, which "were covered in blood, and with the splatter of blood on Campbell's legs it confirmed that the cat was stomped by Campbell."
The officer estimated that the kitten was about 4 months old and weighed three pounds, according to the police report.
A necropsy will be performed on the kitten by Forensic Veterinary Investigations LLC at the New England Wildlife Center, which is also in Weymouth, according to police.
An animal cruelty conviction in Massachusetts carries a maximum sentence of up to seven years in state prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
Campbell is due back in court Jan. 20 for a pretrial conference.