Cat abuser to judge: I will not kill any more cats

Straits Times, 28 July 2006

David Hooi Yin Weng, the Bedok serial cat torturer, was back in court yesterday, pleading guilty to abusing a four-month-old stray.

Hooi made his first appearance before the new Community Court - after he had been charged and sent for psychiatric assessment. Nearly five months ago, the 42-year-old was given three months' jail for hitting a kitten on the head. It had to be put down. At the time, he had told the judge then that he had made a 'mistake'' and would not do it again. But on June 27, he was arrested again for animal abuse.

Police had received a complaint from 40-year-old Ms Sharifah Khamis, who handed over an ill-treated animal with swollen eyes, a bloodstained mouth and broken teeth. Ms Sharifah was part of a group in Bedok who took turns to patrol the neighbourhood every evening, to catch the man they suspected of torturing and killing the area's stray cats.

In court yesterday, the unemployed man admitted torturing a four-month-old male cat by hitting its head repeatedly, breaking its tooth and causing swelling in both eyes. He had picked up the cat at Block 532, Bedok North Street 3, at about 3am on June 26, and had taken it to his home in Block 544.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ravneet Kaur said he allowed the animal to roam freely around his flat.Several hours later, after he realised the cat had urinated on his bed, he hit it four times and locked it in the toilet.

As the cat was making noises from the toilet, he opened the door, upon which the cat ran out, jumped on the bed and urinated again. He hit the animal another four times, which left it unable to walk properly. That night, he took the cat to the void deck, where he was arrested.

The abused animal also had to be put down.

Apart from his cat abuse offences, Hooi had been convicted of seven thefts since 1978.In 1990, he was given five years' corrective training for mischief by fire, and six years later, he was sentenced to seven years' preventive detention for mischief and theft.

Hooi pleaded to the court to give him another chance. 'I will not kill any more cats,'' he said.

District Judge Bala Reddy said an Institute of Mental Health psychiatrist had diagnosed him as suffering from anti-social personality disorder. Effective treatment for this disorder is limited, he added.He postponed sentencing to Aug 28 for a prison psychologist to prepare a report on how Hooi might be treated.