Man who filmed cousin abusing brown toy poodle in viral videos fined
SINGAPORE — A man who filmed his cousin torturing a brown toy poodle instead of stopping the act was fined $4,500 on Thursday (8 July).
Chia Yong-Quan, 38, was the cousin of 41-year-old Clement Chia Tian Xiang, who had repeatedly abused his male toy poodle Leslie by binding its mouth with white string, suspending it in mid-air and beating it with a hanger. Chia, a civil servant, was also disqualified from owning pets for a year.
Six recordings of the abuse - two of them taken by Chia - went viral where they were uploaded online, triggering public outrage and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to appeal for more information about the abuser.
Chia, a Singaporean, pleaded guilty to one charge of wantonly omitting to stop Clement from cruelly torturing an animal. Clement, who faces six offences related to the abuse, has his case pending before the court.
Offences came to light years after abuse
Chia and Clement had regularly met over the years. Clement was the owner of Leslie, who was about four years old when the offences were committed.
Between October 2016 and November 2017, Chia recorded two video clips of Clement torturing the poodle in his flat. Both the clips - one 16 seconds long, and the other 33 seconds long - captured the poodle with its mouth bound with a string.
They then showed Clement repeatedly beating Leslie’s hindquarters with a closed fist, as well as hitting its legs and the lower half of its body with a hard-plastic hanger.
Clement also held the poodle by one of its legs and lifted it off the ground, suspending it in mid-air, before assaulting the poodle repeatedly with a hanger while the dog whimpered and struggled.
Throughout the video clips, Chia did not stop Clement from the cruel acts.
The offences came to light in July last year, when six video clips of Clement torturing the poodle were shared by users on Facebook. Alarmed members of the public subsequently alerted the Animal and Veterinary Service of the National Parks Board of the abuse.
For omitting to stop a person from abusing an animal, Chia could have been jailed up to 18 months and/or fined of up to $15,000.
Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore
Other Singapore stories:
Boy who had cardiac arrest after 1st Pfizer vaccine jab had taken supplements
Singapore residents who took Sinovac vaccine can have second Pfizer or Moderna jabs
Groups of five dine-in to start on 12 July, wedding receptions can resume
Gatherings in groups of 8 likely from end-July: Lawrence Wong
Routine testing for staff in more high-risk settings, such as dine-in F&B outlets
