There’s a special rung in hell for animal abusers — you know, the kind who mistreat their pets and inflict all kinds of pain on them. Like Yeo Poh Kwee, who left two dogs dead in the wake of his brutality.
The 46-year-old was sentenced to the maximum of 18 months’ jail for animal cruelty and an additional two months yesterday for abandoning his pet dog without reasonable excuse. He will ultimately serve a total of 20 months in jail, which was backdated to Oct 11, reported the Straits Times, adding that it was the longest sentence handed out since the amended Animal and Birds Act came into force in 2015.
Brownie
The first dog to die because of his actions wasn’t even his own pet. On Nov 12, Yeo responded to a Facebook post by 28-year-old Dawn Seet Woon Qi, who needed to re-home her toy poodle. Three days later, Brownie the dog was handed over to Yeo — a decision she would later regret later on.
When Seet called him to check on Brownie, Yeo claimed that the dog had turned aggressive and bit his fingers, then injured its nose after getting stuck between a toilet pipe and the wall. Seet reportedly told him to bring the dog to a vet immediately, but Yeo said he needed to shower and clean Brownie, as he claimed the dog was covered in urine and poop.
The following day, Yeo had still not brought the dog to the vet, and Seet requested to do so herself. The man then started to give excuses to avoid her visit. It was only later in the evening that Yeo informed her that the dog had died.
When Seet and her husband went to Yeo’s flat, they found Brownie’s body covered in a plastic bag and wrapped in a towel. Suspecting foul play, the couple lodged a police report, according to the paper, and a subsequent autopsy revealed that the dog had suffered multiple injuries.
Yoyi
The second dog that Yeo killed died in far more inhumane circumstances. On Dec. 21, he took his brown pet poodle Yoyi out for a walk, intending to abandon it. He brought the dog to Block 55 along Teban Gardens Road, and planned to leave it on the 38th floor — a decision he made after getting stressed out because his neighbors had complained about Yoyi’s relentless barking during his absence.
But instead of leaving the dog alone, the court heard that he leashed Yoyi to his body and began running down 19 floors of the building at high speed, causing the dog to ricochet against the walls, floors, and stairs of the HDB block. Blood stains trailing all the way from the 29th floor to the 19th floor were later found by a Bangladeshi sweeper, according to the Straits Times’ account of the hearing.
Upon reaching the 19th floor, Yeo unleashed the severely injured dog and abandoned it at the staircase landing before heading home. Eventually, Yoyi’s body was found sporting injuries to almost every part of its body.
In court, District Judge Eddy Tham noted that Yeo had not only abandoned the dog, but had also cruelly inflicted tremendous suffering and pain to the animal. The judge banned Yeo from owning any animal for a year.
From where we sit, Yeo Poh Kwee should be banned from owning pets for life.
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