(SG) Serial cat abuser arrested again

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Serial cat abuser arrested again

TODAYonline

Weekend • November 3, 2007

Sheralyn Tay

 

JUST months after his release from prison, serial cat

abuser David Hooi has been arrested for the third

time.

 

According to police, 44-year-old Hooi was picked up on

Wednesday at 10.15pm for a suspected act of cat abuse.

 

Cat lovers had spotted Hooi playing with cats near his

Bedok home and in Geylang soon after his most recent

release. Last week, residents suspected that he was

keeping cats in his flat, according to neighbour Abdul

Rahim. But when they did a check of Hooi's home on Oct

22, a Monday, they did not find any cats.

 

Three days later, Mr Abdul Rahim saw Hooi carrying a

black-and-white kitten.

 

" (Hooi) told me he wanted to keep it as a pet and

would not abuse it, " said Mr Abdul Rahim. The

58-year-old security guard had tried to stop him. " But

some neighbours did not support me and said that

(Hooi) was a changed man. "

 

The next morning, Mr Abdul Rahim alleges, he noticed

the kitten meowing pitifully in front of Hooi's door.

It had a bloody eye, so he immediately made a police

report and notified the Society for the Prevention of

Cruelty to Animals.

 

" I feel so guilty for not stopping him, " the bachelor

told Today. That same day, a Friday, he applied for a

week off work, just so he could “keep an eye” on Hooi.

 

Mr Abdul Rahim and a few other neighbours like Madam

Sharifah Khamis have formed an informal network that

keeps tabs on Hooi. Mdm Sharifah was one of several

Bedok residents who had conducted nightly patrols that

led to Hooi’s first arrest in November 2005.

 

" Some neighbours are afraid of him, " she said. But she

gave her number to others and told them to call her if

they saw anything " suspicious " .

 

It was through a tip-off like this, Mdm Sharifah said,

that she was alerted to a kitten being kept in Hooi's

home last month. When she went to Hooi and asked him

to release the cat, she was relieved to see it was

unharmed.

 

Last year, animal lovers were up in arms over what

some saw as a mere slap on the wrist, when Hooi was

sentenced to three months’ jail for abusing a kitten

(see box).

 

In Singapore, the penalty for animal abuse is a

maximum fine of $10,000, a jail term of up to 12

months, or both, under the Animals and Birds Act.

 

But animal lovers think that jail time alone is not

enough for habitual abusers like Hooi, who was given

the maximum jail term for his second offence.

 

" The sentences now are too lenient, " said Mr Abdul

Rahim, who thinks that mandatory caning should be

enforced.

 

But Cat Welfare Society director of operations Dawn

Kua said: " Punishment cannot be just punitive because

it may not be very useful. Some animals abusers may

have underlying problems. " Rather, she felt, there

should be alternative means of dealing with animal

abusers, such as mandatory psychiatric evaluation to

see if the offender needs counselling or treatment.

 

Ms Sandy Lim of one of the Bedok cat lover groups

suggested preventive detention — detaining a repeat

offender who is unlikely to change, for a certain

period without chance for early release, to stop him

from doing further harm.

 

However, Community Court Judge Bala Reddy, who

presided over Hooi's last trial, had noted that while

he would otherwise qualify for preventive detention,

it can be invoked only if the offence carries a jail

term of two years or more.

 

Animal lover Goh Boon Choo thinks the current laws

must be given more flexibility so that habitual animal

abusers can get the help they need. Hooi, she said,

" is as much a victim as the cats and kittens he

abuses. Society has a responsibility to help him as

well " .

 

Hooi had confessed to killing cats from as early as

age 15.

 

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/220207.asp

....................

FELINE TORTURE

 

March 2006

Hooi was sentenced to three months’ jail for abusing a

1.5-month-old kitten in November 2005.

Hooi had hit the black-and-white kitten on the head

and tortured it so badly that one of its eyes

protruded. It had to be put down. Hooi was released a

month early for good behaviour.

 

September 2006

In June – just two months after he was released from

prison – Hooi was again arrested.

This time, he had tortured a four-month-old cat until

its eyes swelled and one of its teeth broke. The cat

was also put down. Calling it “one of the worst cases

of animal abuse” the Community Court had heard, the

judge sentenced Hooi to the maximum of 12 months in

jail.

 

http://www.todayonline.com/pdf_open.asp?id=0311HRW003

 

 

 

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