Jailed for animal cruelty: Man threw stray cat down rubbish chute to its death

Ow Ah Lon, 59, was sentenced to eight weeks in jail yesterday for the offence of animal cruelty. It was on Mar 14 this year that the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) was notified to the case, which resulted in the death of a stray cat.

It all started on Mar 12, when the taxi driver returned to his home at Block 626 Ang Mo Kio Ave 4 and discovered paw prints in his kitchen. The next day, he found his bed soiled with the cat’s faeces and urine. Both times, Ow did not catch the culprit, reported Channel NewsAsia.

Finally, the day after, Ow picked up on a cat’s meow coming from inside his flat. When he saw the white and grey feline running from his living room to the kitchen, he chased it and picked it up, but then flung it to the floor when the animal scratched him.

As the cat attempted to flee from his clutches, Ow seized its hind legs and got bitten. So he hurled the creature to the floor a second time, then picked it up and angrily threw it down the rubbish chute.

After that, he went out to buy medication for his injuries. According to The Straits Times, when he was on his way back, he told a neighbor that he had “beaten” the cat until it “fainted” and admitted he tossed it down the rubbish chute.

When the neighbor checked the rubbish chute, she discovered the cat’s carcass lying there and alerted AVA. Ow then confessed to his act when AVA officers arrived at the scene.

In a statement yesterday, the authority said post-mortem findings revealed that the cat had suffered an external traumatic incident (blunt force trauma mainly directed at its cranium), which caused its death.

Ow, who is divorced, pleaded for leniency, claiming he has financial difficulties.

For the offence of animal cruelty, he could have been fined a maximum of $15,000 and/or sentenced to jail for 18 months.

In light of this, AVA said that “safeguarding animal welfare is a shared responsibility that needs the cooperation of all stakeholders, including the public.”