A man who beat his exes’ kitten and puppy to death has escaped jail.
Joshua Sharp, 25, from Winnersh, Berkshire, was found guilty of two counts of animal welfare offences earlier this year.
On Monday 4 March, he was handed a 22-month suspended sentence, which has left the victim “p***ed off”.
The criminal was found to have caused the death of four-month-old kitten Peppa and 12-week-old Dachshund Stark due to trauma and blows to the head.
His evil acts were only brought to light when ex Susannah Bragg, 27, went detective and ordered a £800 post-mortem on Peppa, before getting in touch with his ex and presenting their findings to the RSPCA and police.
Alongside the suspended sentence, Joshua was banned from owning animals for 10 years.
He was also ordered to undertake 180 hours of unpaid work, a 40-day stint in rehab and pay a £500 victim charge to each of his exes at Reading Magistrates Court.
“I’m really pi**ed off,” Susannah told Jam Press after the sentencing.
“He now thinks he’s got away with it.
“I can’t believe he hasn’t gone down for it.
“The £500 doesn’t bring my kitten back. It doesn’t even cover the post-mortem or the cost of a new kitten for my kids.
“But it’s not the money I’m bothered about. I wanted justice.
“There’s no remorse from his side. He’s never given an apology or explained how it was an accident.
“I just don’t understand why he’s not in prison.
“But it’s all about making better people. In my eyes he should have gone to prison and then had rehab.
“At least then he would have been taught a lesson. It’s only a matter of time before he does it again.
“He’s sick and I can’t believe he’s not in prison.”
Susannah, from Hampshire, met Sharp in early January 2021 but their brief relationship turned into a nightmare for the mum.
She has two children – a son, five, and daughter, two – and, at the time, had two pets: cat Peppa and dog Boo.
Three weeks into the couple’s relationship, Susannah noticed her animals acting strangely around Sharp and was growing increasingly suspicious.
One night, she found Peppa curled in a ball on the bed with blood pouring out of his nose and mouth.
She and Sharp took the poorly cat to an emergency vet, who pronounced him dead on arrival and pointed out unexplained bruising on the top of his head.
Sharp buried Peppa in a local woodland area while Susannah tearfully watched.
The mum said that he had previously told her a story of how one of his exes had lost her dog just weeks after she met him – and decided it was too much of a coincidence.
She booked a post-mortem the next day and returned to the woods to get Peppa’s body.
The report showed Peppa had suffered flat impact trauma to the head, resulting in a fractured skull and brain haemorrhage, which had caused his lungs to fill with blood.
There were four marks found on his head but no marks or injuries sustained anywhere else on the body.
Susannah ended her relationship with Joshua that same night and filed a report with the RSPCA and police soon after.
Joshua’s ex also gave a statement to the RSPCA regarding her deceased dog, Stark, a 12-week-old Dachshund puppy.
The RSPCA investigated both cases and brought them to trial on 30 November 2021 at Reading Magistrates Court.
It was found that Peppa died by blunt force trauma to the skull.
Meanwhile Stark was found to have non-cardiac pulmonary oedema, commonly caused by a trauma.
Sharp denied the charges but was found guilty at trial of two counts of causing death by not protecting the animals from pain and suffering under section 9 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006.
Despite her anger at the sentence, Susannah is still “relieved” that the ordeal is now over.
She added: “The relief hearing he has been found guilty is overwhelming.
“It’s been a long, long journey.
“I have accepted Peppa’s death but I still can’t get it clear in my head how anyone could cause such a small defenceless kitten such pain and torture.
“[Sharp] is dangerous and the pain he has caused to me and my family is something I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”
After Sharp was found guilty, RSPCA Inspector Sharon Chrisp told Jam Press: “The RSPCA are really pleased with the results, these two tiny baby animals suffered terrible abuse at the hands of this man, hopefully his sentence will deter this behaviour in the future.”
