Everyone has a different idea of fun.
Most people engage in their hobbies like exercising for fun.
Or for some men, their idea of fun is having a night out at KTV lounges before it all crashed and burned on them.
Not this man, however, who injured cats just for his own twisted version of fun.
Man Pleads Guilty To Animal Cruelty Charges
You may have been an enraged cat lover keeping up with the Ang Mo Kio cat slashing incidents – here’s the latest update.
It all started in April when Ang Mo Kio residents discovered human-inflicted slashes on multiple community cats in the area.
Soon after, it blew up online, with people yelling for the perpetrator to be dealt with.
The culprit was none other than 37-year-old Leow Wei Liang, who had been charged with one count of causing hurt to a cat with a penknife in May.
However, he faced additional charges in early June following that, bringing the total amount to seven charges, for he had injured approximately 10 cats in the same way.
Leow has now pleaded guilty to three animal cruelty charges, with four others taken into consideration while sentencing him to 12 weeks of jail.
The Institute of Mental Health (IMH) also assessed Leow to have autism spectrum disorder as well as an underlying antisocial personality.
While there were three other cats not taken into consideration for the court proceedings, Leow admitted to slashing seven cats.
They even had names affectionately given to them by the community – Miki, Dino, Boyboy, Kopi, Milo, Mummy and Daughter.
He Said He Was Allergic To Their Fur; It Was For Fun
The reason behind Leow cutting cats was because he felt they were “stray animals and not human,” court documents stated.
Additionally, he also believed he was allergic to cat fur as another reason to dislike them.
So he purchased a penknife, which was easy to bring around and to conceal, and intentionally got as close as he could to the cats to slash them.
However, the court took into consideration Leow’s mental condition before sentencing him for the acts of animal cruelty.
IMH’s assessment stated that Leow’s decision to commit such acts were not because he failed to understand the consequences of his actions, a National Parks Board prosecutor said.
Instead, he simply wanted to “wantonly inflict pain and suffering on animals for his own perverse entertainment.”
Leow’s antisocial personality was also attributed as the primary driving factor of his actions, rather than his autism spectrum disorder, and he was not of an unsound mind when he did so.
The prosecutor asked for 12 to 16 weeks of jail for Leow to understand the seriousness of his offences.
On the other hand, his pro-bono defence lawyer fought for four weeks instead, in light of his mental health history.
Leow’s autism spectrum disorder may have affected his understanding of social consequences as well as led him to be unaware of harm inflicted on others, according to the IMH report on the disorder.
She said that he was not a “typical animal abuser” as the condition may have impaired his judgement as to the full impact of the pain and suffering the cats felt.
Although the primary driving factor was not the autism spectrum disorder, it still would have affected him, she held.
“This is an unfortunate and regrettable aberration in terms of his behaviour and he promises the court that such behaviour will not be repeated after his release from prison,” she added.
District Judge May Mesenas said that there was a need for deterrence and balance to be struck in sentencing him despite the autism spectrum disorder affecting him, considering how many cats he intentionally sought and harmed.
A community court conference would also be held to address what Leow could do to keep his mental condition in check to prevent another offence after he would be released from jail.
Causing unnecessary pain and suffering to an animal holds a jail term of up to one and a half years as well as a fine of up to S$15,000 or both.
You may report any suspected cases of animal cruelty here or call the Animal Response Centre at 1800 476 1600.
Featured Image: Facebook (Ning Wong)