Boyfriend blamed for Vic cat balcony death

A Melbourne university student says he might have used "a bit too much force" when he threw his girlfriend's cat Chau Chau, who went over the balcony of their 45th floor apartment.

Cheng Lu, 20, claims it was an accident and he had only meant to throw Chau Chau outside to "give the cat a lesson" after it scratched his leg.

The one-year-old cat hit the pavement on Elizabeth Street below and died that night in April 2018.

Lu, a computer science student, is fighting charges of animal cruelty and reckless endangerment in Melbourne Magistrates Court and testified on Monday.

"I was sitting there in the living room by myself and the cat was underneath the couch," he said.

"The cat liked to scratch us with his claw and at the time the cat scratched my leg and I was annoyed."

Lu said he lifted up the couch as he looked for the cat, knocking over a stack of plastic containers before finding it.

"I grabbed the cat and put the cat outside but I might have used a bit too much force,' Lu said, with the aid of a Chinese interpreter.

"I only intended to put the cat on to the balcony, not over the balcony."

Lu's then-girlfriend Kaiqi Chen stepped out of the shower just in time to see Chau Chau "in the air".

"I saw the cat being thrown out," she told the hearing.

"When I saw the cat, the cat was in the air."

In the witness stand, Ms Chen demonstrated the throwing action used by Lu, which looked akin to someone throwing a rugby ball.

Ms Chen, a commerce student, said she "screamed out", quickly got dressed and rushed outside, breaking down in tears on the street.

"I saw the cat. The cat was dead. In the middle of the pavement," she said.

Lu did not immediately come down to the street but spoke with his then-girlfriend by phone.

"Lu Cheng kept saying 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry' on the phone," Ms Chen said.

Earlier that night she had been holding Chau Chau when Lu teased her, she told the court.

"He said my face is fat," she said.

The couple's housemate had told Lu his comments were not appropriate, and Lu said he felt "embarrassed".

Hospitality worker Daniel Leigh was walking on Elizabeth Street when the cat fell near him.

He said the cat narrowly missed a couple who were walking in front of him and made a "loud bang" when it hit the pavement.

"I thought maybe someone set off a firecracker. I didn't see anything fall," he said.

Mr Leigh called police, who found Lu sitting on the floor in his apartment before arresting him.

Lu and Ms Chen have broken up since Chau Chau's death.

The court hearing before magistrate Constantinos Kilias is due to continue on Tuesday.