TEARS AS PUSS PUNCH-UP ACCUSED CLEARED
midnight after she found the grey and white kitten unconscious under the bed covers. She feared she had killed her by accidentally lying on her while asleep.
Jade, who gave evidence from behind a screen, claimed a hysterical Collins attacked her while screaming: “The cat! The cat’s dead! It’s dying!”
She said: “She kept coming at me. She was biting a chunk out of my arm and I was trying to get her off of me to stop her hitting me.”
Jade claimed Collins punched her in the face and hit her over the head with the vodka bottle, leaving a bleeding gash.
She said the accused then bit her repeatedly on the face and arm as she struggled to fight her off.
Jade said her injuries included bite marks on either side of her face, three bite wounds on her left arm and a deep cut on her scalp which had to be stapled.
She told the jury: “I don’t dispute she was worried about the cat but she still attacked me. “I did scratch her – I had nails.” The court heard a neighbour called police after hearing Jade screaming: “The cat’s dead! Get off me!”
Officers said Jade answered the door with “fresh injuries” and said right away that she had been bitten, hit with the bottle and struck on the face.
Collins told police she had also been assaulted but gave no details. She answered “no comment” to questions when she was interviewed.
In her evidence at the trial, Collins denied assaulting Jade to her severe injury and claimed self defence.
She said: “I woke up because there was a wet patch on the bed. When I pulled back the covers, Nancy, our little kitten, was lying there with what looked like blood on her nose.
“My instant reaction was panic because I thought I’d been lying on her. I lifted the cat immediately to see if she was breathing but there was no life in her at all.
“I thought I’d killed her or seriously hurt her.”
Collins said the bedroom door was jammed and she called on Jade to open it so she could get help for Nancy.
She said there was no response so she jumped naked out of the window, got back in through the back door and put Nancy on the living room floor to show Jade she needed help.
Collins said: “We both saw that it was lifeless. I said, ‘I’m sorry. I think I lay on her.’ I held my head on my hands. I was hysterical and shouting.
“I remember saying, ‘The cat, you need to help the cat, she’s dying.’”
Collins claimed Jade lunged at her and headbutted her in the first of four separate assaults. She said that in the last incident, Jade put her hands round her throat.
“She continued to choke me, saying it should have been me and not the cat,” Collins added. “I said, ‘Get off me. You’re going to kill me.’ “I feared for my life.” The court heard Collins also had injuries when police arrived. They included multiple scratches to her face, back and neck and carpet burns on her legs.
The jury cleared Collins, who now lives in Stranraer, by majority on Friday. Sheriff Susan Craig told her she had been acquitted and was free to go.
Collins made no comment as she left court.