Just months after his release from prison, serial cat abuser
David Hooi has been arrested for the third time.
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According to police, 44-year-old Hooi was picked up on Wednesday at
10.15pm for a suspected act of cat abuse.
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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.
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Three days later, Mr Abdul Rahim saw Hooi carrying a
black-and-white kitten.
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"(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."
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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.
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"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.
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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.
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"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".
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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"The sentences now are too lenient," said Mr Abdul Rahim, who
thinks that mandatory caning should be enforced.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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".
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Hooi had confessed to killing cats from as early as age 15.
