Argentina judge expels Israel murder suspect for meowing

An alleged Israeli murderer, charged with killing his mother and aunt, was removed from a courtroom after he responded with a meowing sound 55 times during the hearing on Tuesday.

Dubbed ‘Catman’, 40-year-old Nicolas Gil Pereg is alleged to have hidden the bodies of his mother Pyrhia Saroussy, 63, and aunt Lily Pereg, 54, who travelled to Argentina to meet him in 2019, underground at his run-down home in Guaymallen on the outskirts of Mendoza, Argentina.

Judge Laura Guajardo warned Nicolas to stop his behaviour and told him that if he wants to remain in the courtroom, he should do so in silence, with respect and while maintaining decorum.

However, in addition to meowing repeatedly like a cat, Nicolasis is also said to have removed his clothes and urinated in front of magistrates during previous court hearings.

Armed police took away the dishevelled culprit, who used the cat noise to answer when he was asked for his name and ID number.

Nicolas, who used to go by the name Floda Reltih or Adolf Hitler backwards, had previously asked the judge if he could have his pet cats with him in the psychiatric hospital where he is being held during the trial.

Prosecutor Fernando Guzzo, combating claims Pereg is mentally unfit to be tried, told the jury of six men in his opening address to the court on Tuesday, “I ask jury members not to let themselves be fooled and bark more loudly.”

In response, Nicolas’ defence lawyer, Maximiliano Legrand, requested they “behave like humans and not bark like dogs” as the prosecutor instructed.

The search for Nicolas’ mother and aunt began after the alleged killer reported them missing and claimed they could have crossed the border to Chile. It took two weeks to find their bodies.

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