We need to discuss how a 12-year-old boy came to torture someone’s domestic cat because it isn’t the boy’s fault if he genuinely suffers from mental illness described by his father as: ADHD, bipolar, psychotic, and narcissistic.

Mentally ill boy who tortured a cat shown here in this photo together with parents

Some fault must be laid at the feet of the parents because the boy, Jonathan Trude, used a knife from his home to stab the cat. The knife should not have been available to the boy. The parents know their boy’s health problems but were lax in protecting their child from doing harm with a knife. The father admits that he had forgotten to hide the knife and has now beefed up security at home. Without wishing to be biased or prejudiced the father looks like he might have had a role to play in this tragedy beyond the knife issue.

The boy also soaked the cat with chemicals we are told. What chemicals and how did the boy get hold of them? Those questions need to be answered. If they were available at the boy’s home that too is an error of the parents.

I agree with the parents that people should be slow to condemn this 12-year-old. And we really don’t want to get too heavily involved in the blame game but…in order to learn lessons and to stop a repetition questions need to be asked and honest answers found.

A cat named Pitty Pat has been tortured and we are not told if he/she survived; although it seems unlikely. This was someone’s pet so the owner’s are also suffering.

Apparently mental health facilities are scarce in Clinton, Iowa, the scene of the crime and in the surrounding area. Jonathan has been sent to Nebraska for treatment. It was the only available bed in six states. It appears that there is a shortage of mental health treatments in America. This mirrors the situation in the UK. Mental health is undervalued generally. It needs to be emphasized far more.

Charged

Jonathan has been charged with first degree burglary and animal torture. I think the burglary charge stems from the fact that the boy broke into the cat owner’s van and tortured the cat inside the vehicle. Jonathan was apparently with 2 others who fled the scene. Jonathan does not remember hurting the cat we are told.

The parents said: “Throughout his lifetime, he’s never hurt them or played rough with them or anything like this. So this is really out of the blue for Jonathan,”

However, a comment below says he has done something similar multiple times.