A Kansas man faces a municipal court date after he drowned a caged cat in a lake north of Kansas City.

A neighbor and two children saw the man drown the cat. He told police he didn’t realize the neighbors were watching.

Police say the man, whose name was not released, drowned the cat Sunday afternoon in Lake Waukomis because it had bitten and scratched his fiancee and another person. He held the cat under water for about five minutes before it died.

The man, from Shawnee, Kan., is scheduled to appear in municipal court Aug. 20 on a charge of violating the city’s animal-abuse ordinance.

Police investigator Pete Edlund said that a problem animal should be taken to a veterinarian or an animal shelter.

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Associated Press Information from: The Kansas City Star