Man pleads guilty to humping cat after being caught on CCTV

SINGAPORE: A 20-year-old man pleaded guilty on Friday (May 23) to humping a cat after he was caught on a neighbour’s closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera.

Besides admitting to the charge of doing an obscene act in public, the man also pleaded guilty to one count of hurting a 19-year-old classmate with special needs and another charge of harassing him.

Another count of voluntarily causing hurt and two counts of theft will be considered when he is sentenced. 

The man cannot be named due to a gag order on the bully victim to protect his identity. 

Probation and reformative training reports were called to assess the accused’s suitability for both sentencing options. Probation is a community rehabilitation sentence that does not result in a criminal record, while reformative training, which includes a period of detention, results in a criminal record. 

CAT ALLOWED TO ROAM

The accused lived near the cat, which he had come across on many occasions. The cat was allowed to roam freely in and outside of the flat. 

On Apr 8, 2023, at about 1.50am, he returned home and saw the cat outside. He decided to play with it and fed it some cat food he found on a shelf.

While the cat was eating, the accused became aroused and felt the urge to perform a sexual act on the cat. He looked around to check for people in the vicinity before sexually abusing the cat, but did not know that his acts were caught on CCTV. 

The cat scuttled away from him, but the accused followed it and picked it up. He humped the cat before it jumped out of his grasp.

The accused then followed the cat to hold its tail, but the feline squirmed away. 

The cat’s owner discovered the acts when his neighbour showed him the CCTV footage. He posted the footage on his social media account in hopes of identifying the accused. 

A member of the public lodged a police report on Apr 11, 2023, and the police arrested the man the same day. 

After the incident, the owner brought the cat to a veterinarian, who found the cat was unharmed. However, the cat’s owner found that the cat was reluctant to remain outside the flat following the incident. 

BULLYING 

The accused and the bullying victim attended the same course in 2022 and had classes together. According to court documents, the victim had a mild intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder. The accused did not like the victim and would constantly bully him in person and online, court documents stated. 
 
As he was much larger than the victim, the accused would openly pick on him, including verbally abusing and threatening the victim. He also tripped the victim in class, hit him and demanded money from him. 

“The victim did not dare to stand up to or report the accused for fear of his own safety as the accused had threatened to hurt him if he informed his parents, teachers or anyone else,” Deputy Public Prosecutor Dillon Kok told the court. 

“Some instances of the accused’s bullying were reported to the school authorities by their coursemates. When counselled, the accused would acknowledge and apologise for his actions, but the bullying remained unabated.”

On Mar 31, 2022, the accused sent harassing and profanity-laden texts to the victim over a chat application, threatening to “kill” him and calling him “ugly”. 

He also repeatedly threatened to “whack” the victim and “break” his face. 

The victim did not dare to inform his parents or teachers about the texts, but his father chanced upon them in 2023 and lodged a police report.

On Nov 23, 2022, the accused assaulted the victim while they were in class. He saw the victim resting his head against a bag and got irritated for no reason. He followed the victim to the toilet, intending to hit him. 

In the toilet, the accused asked the victim why he had to rest his head against the bag, and the victim kept silent. Angered, the accused slapped the victim on the face.

The accused is set to be sentenced on Jul 11. He was remanded on Friday.