Jealous boyfriend flushed ex-partner’s hamster down the toilet

A cruel boyfriend flushed his partner’s hamster down the toilet in revenge when she left him, a court heard.

Sydney Fraser, 54, drowned the helpless rodent after a series of bitter arguments with his girlfriend Maria Jefferson.

He forced her to drink and kept her in a darkened room before the final outrage with her beloved pet, Camberwell Magistrates’ Court heard.

Fraser is believed to have pulled the flush several times before the animal was sent to its watery grave in the sewers.

Ms Jefferson had complained to friends that Fraser was abusive to her and the police had been informed.

Fraser plied her with drink so she would do his bidding.

Terry Curtis, prosecuting, said: ‘Fraser wanted her to drink to control her. He encouraged her to drink.

‘In one argument he pushed her in the chest and she fell backwards.

‘He unplugged the TV and took out the lights because he knew she was afraid of the dark.’

When Ms Jefferson finally left him on December 5 last year he bombarded her with text messages and phone calls begging her to come back.

Unfortunately, had left her pet with Jefferson.

‘Some time before Christmas she went to the flat,’ Mr Curtis said.

‘She asked where the pet hamster was.

‘He said that he had flushed it down the toilet.’

Ms Jefferson was devastated because she had loved taking responsibly for cleaning and feeding the animal.

‘The hamster was a symbol for showing her that she could be responsible for someone other than herself,’ Mr Curtis explained.

Defending himself, Fraser was unrepentant.

Addressing the court from the dock he said: ‘I have nothing to say.

‘I just want to get on with my life without her hanging around me.’

Magistrate Lillian Heyworth-Dunne said: ‘We are going to take the exceptional of trying this with a conditional discharge for a period of 12 months.

‘If you stay out of trouble and your not charged with any offence it will go away.’

Fraser, of (19) Ouseley House, (66) Christchurch Road, Tulse Hill, southwest London, admitted criminal damage and he was given a 12 month conditional discharge.

The charge stated that, without lawful excuse, he ‘destroyed a hamster to the value of unknown belonging to Maria Jefferson intending to destroy or damage such property or being reckless as to whether such property would be destroyed or damaged’.

The maximum sentence for the offence is three months.
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