A 25-year-old man named Khairulnizam, was fined S$10,000 by a district court on January 30 after he pleaded guilty to one charge under the “Animals and Birds Act” of causing unnecessary pain and suffering to a cat named Grey.
According to the court records seen by Channel News Asia, the man will serve a sentence of 20 days’ in jail because he is unable to pay the fine.
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As stated in court records, Khairulnizam resided in a flat with his spouse in Sembawang Crescent during the end of 2018. Khairulnizam became the primary caregiver of the cat after adopting it in February of 2019.
Starting in October 2020, Khairulnizam and his family lived away from the Sembawang flat and instead opted to reside with either his in-laws in Woodlands or his aunt in Boon Lay while he worked at Jurong Port.
LAST FED IN DECEMBER 2020
Khairulnizam left the cat at the Sembawang flat and only returned occasionally to feed it. He admits that he last fed the cat in December 2020, CNA reported.
During this time, one of his neighbors noticed a foul odor coming from the flat and reached out to him via messages to inquire about the source of the smell.
The neighbor expressed concern about the welfare of the cat, as they hadn’t seen Khairulnizam for two months and the odor was becoming stronger. Despite multiple messages from the neighbor urging Khairulnizam to return and check on the cat, he failed to do so.
“Self Digestion”
The National Parks Board (NParks) was alerted to a dead cat at the Sembawang flat on February 2, 2021.
Upon investigation, NParks officers discovered the cat’s carcass inside the flat. A post-mortem examination conducted by NParks’ veterinary department revealed that the carcass had undergone mummification and significant self-digestion (autolysis).
Although the exact time of death could not be determined, the NParks veterinarian estimated that it would have taken at least a week for the carcass to reach that state of autolysis and mummification.
NO MONEY
Initially he was charged with starving his pet cat to death in August of the previous year, but the charge was later revised to the current one in October.
In the meantime, he requested multiple postponements to gather funds to pay the fine imposed by the prosecution.
He provided various reasons for the postponements, including his wife giving birth and a promise to take his daughter out for Chinese New Year. At a hearing on January 18, he stated that he had no funds and requested a delay.
The judge said “last time round you had S$1,000, now you have no money at all”, before granting him a final adjournment.
He was eventually sentenced on Monday. Under the Animals and Birds Act, the penalties for causing unnecessary pain and suffering to an animal without reason include a fine of up to S$15,000, a jail term of up to 18 months, or both.
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