Man's jail term doubled for throwing cats from Ang Mo Kio HDB flats

A man who received 14 months' jail for abusing five cats in Ang Mo Kio had his jail term increased to two years and three months on Wednesday (Jul 9), after the prosecution appealed for a longer sentence.

Barrie Lin Pengli, 33, had abused cats whenever he felt frustrated or troubled with his life and went for walks around housing estates in Ang Mo Kio where he knew there were community cats he could harm.

He began by kicking them, then abducted them in small waterproof bags with little air circulation and releasing them elsewhere or killing them.

He threw two cats off high floors of Housing and Development Board (HDB) blocks, stepping hard on one when it was still alive on the ground.

Justice Vincent Hoong said the lower court's sentences were overly lenient and wrongly relied on unreported cases that were clustered around the lower end of the sentencing range.

He added that the lower court had put too much mitigating weight on the cat killer's major depressive disorder.

Animal cruelty has no place in a just and humane society and will be met with the full force of the law, he said.

He also said Lin had inflicted violence against animals for his perverse pleasure and that this was among the most heinous cases of animal cruelty that have come before our courts.

Lin pleaded guilty in October last year to three charges of animal cruelty, with another two charges taken into consideration.

The prosecution sought 24 months' jail from the start, but Lin was given 14 months' jail by the district judge who took into account his mental condition.

Defence lawyer Azri Imran Tan from law firm IRB Law had stated that Lin had been labouring under major depressive disorder, diagnosed by two psychiatrists, during four of his offences.

Lin was initially on bail but began serving his sentence while he awaited the cross-appeals.

On Wednesday, the prosecution called for 24 months' jail, saying this was a cruel and heinous case and that the district judge had erred in placing too much weight on Lin's depression.

A mental condition cannot be a licence to harm others, Second Chief Prosecutor Isaac Tan said. The sentence imposed in this case, 14 months' jail, is not one that advances the public interest.

He pointed to statistics on the number of animal abuse cases in Singapore and said we need to send out a clear signal that animal abuse, particularly cases of repeated and heinous abuse to animals, will be given substantial terms of imprisonment.

This is an opportunity for all of us to lay down a marker, he added. How we respond to cases of animal abuse is how we want to move forward as a society.

He also said animals are defenceless creatures that cannot seek help, but are sentient and capable of knowing pain and suffering.

The cats in this case were subjected to cruelty, tortured, killed and maimed for the offender's depraved satisfaction.

Changing times require a changing mindset, Your Honour, and we ask that this court seriously consider increasing the sentence.