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Man Confesses To Killing New Zealand Prime Minister's Cat Two Years Later

Man Confesses To Killing New Zealand Prime Minister's Cat Two Years Later

The world was devastated when Paddles the Cat was run over, but now the man behind the tragedy has spoken out.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Two years ago, people around the world mourned the loss of the New Zealand Prime Minister's cat.

Details about the sudden death were pretty light except for the fact that it was run over near Jacinda Ardern's house. It was a pretty big deal, with people laying flowers outside Ms Ardern's house and tributes being sent from every nook and cranny on our lovely earth.

But now, a man has come forward and claimed responsibility for killing poor Paddles the Cat.

Twitter

And it turns out...dun, dun, dun...it was her NEIGHBOUR.

Speaking to Stuff.co.nznz, the man, only known as Chris, said it was completely accidental and he apologised to both Jacinda and her partner Chris Gayford and conveyed how upset he was about the whole ordeal.

Essentially, this 'Chris' man was coming home during a lunchbreak and out of nowhere, Paddles darted out and was hit by his car. He tried to find the cat, but it ran off and Chris hoped that it wasn't injured too badly.

He hopped out and another neighbour quickly arrived and Chris asked if it was her cat. She didn't own a cat, but when he explained that it's a ginger feline, Chris adds: "She said: 'that's my neighbour's cat'.

"I pointed at [Ardern's] house and said: 'Not this neighbour!'"

Jacinda Ardern/Instagram

This all happened on the very day that Ms Ardern was opening New Zealand's parliament for the first time after being elected Prime Minister.

Chris continues: "Later in the afternoon, I popped back to the neighbour's house and she said Paddles hadn't survived. But Clarke was home.

"I went over and knocked on the door and Clarke came out. He was really nice and said 'look, it could have happened to anyone'. He was clearly very upset."

A month later he got a call from a blocked number and because he didn't know who was calling, he let it go to voicemail.

Twitter

He checked the message and it was the PM basically apologising to Chris for having to go through the whole experience and thanking him for going over and saying sorry as well as leaving a condolence card.

Chris bumped into Ms Ardern a few months after the ordeal at a park when his son and the PM's niece started playing together.

"I said, 'I'm so sorry', and then she said, 'No, I'm sorry' and it kind of went round in circles.

"I was also aware that to Jacinda and Clarke, Paddles was their fur baby at that point that they loved, so I was pretty gutted. But I obviously later found out they were pregnant so that made me feel a bit better that I didn't take out the only one thing that they loved."

It's incredible to see Jacinda Ardern act so nicely towards a bloke who killed her cat, but it shows just how empathetic she is.

Featured Image Credit: Paddles the Cat/Twitter

Topics: News