Frustrated that cats didn’t want to go near him when he wanted to play with them, Fajar Ashraf Ali hurled one down from the sixth storey of an HDB block.
As if that wasn’t appalling enough, he went down to where the cat laid dying at the foot of Block 884 along Tampines Street 83. After finding that it was still (barely) alive, he slammed it on the ground in an effort to snuff out the cat’s life for good.
According to various media reports, the 25-year-old has since pleaded guilty to two charges of animal cruelty yesterday — over eight months since the case horrified cat lovers across the island.
In the wee hours of the morning of May 26 last year, a resident of the opposite block heard a cat shrieking in agony at the ground floor and looked down from the third-floor kitchen window. Fajar was seen slamming the cat twice on the ground before trying to burn it with his lighter.
Though he managed to flee the scene soon after, police nabbed him five days later via CCTV footage.
Looking for cats to play with
According to investigators, Fajar claimed that he committed the barbaric acts as he was frustrated that cats were not willing to go near him.
Leaving his house around 1am that day, he spotted a cat at Block 884 and lured it into the lift with cat food. They went up to the sixth floor, and Fajar brought the female shorthair to the staircase landing.
It tried to escape, but Fajar managed to lure it back with more food. The moment the cat returned to him, Fajar tossed it over the staircase landing’s ledge. Afterwards, he went down and made sure the cat was dead. The resident who saw the horrible scene unfold alerted the police immediately.
Mandatory treatment order
In court, Fajar’s lawyer urged the district judge to call for a mandatory treatment order (MTO) suitability to assess the accused’s state of mind — his parents claimed that he was depressed in the days before the offence.
But the prosecution disagreed — Deputy Public Prosecutor Soh Weiqi said that there was no indication that Fajar had any mental problem when he committed the “reprehensible” acts. She called for a stiff sentence of five months’ jail to be imposed on each charge.
Sentencing has been adjourned to March 6 pending an MTO suitability report.
