News

Dog Abuser Pleads Judge Not To Ban Her From Keeping Dogs; Says She Uses Dogs For ‘Emotional Support’

Raina Ee

2019-09-19 , 2:00 pm

Anyone that knows me, would most likely know that I love dogs, all sorts of pets in fact.

I mean, look at how adorable they are.

And, let’s not forget how meme-worthy they are as well.

However, not everyone sees things the same way as we do; some people dislike dogs and some are afraid of them.

I’m cool with that, but not when one decides to cruelly mistreat these helpless pups.

Animal Cruelty & Causing Hurt To Chihuahua

A Singaporean lady, Sophia Ong Daijuan, 26, was charged with animal cruelty and causing harm to her pet Chihuahua.

She has since pleaded guilty to the charge as well.

As reported by Yahoo!, Ong cruelly abused a Chihuahua by picking it up by its neck and throwing it down from a height of 1.5 metres.

She was said to have pulled the hind leg of the dog which resulted in a leg injury and beaten the dog with her hands.

The accused also admitted to having failed to feed the dog daily, causing the Chihuahua to suffer from weight loss.

Claimed To Have Tried Reviving The Dog

On 23 February 2018, around 4pm, Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) received feedback that Ong may have killed the Chihuahua at her home located at Yishun.

I’m convinced that Yishun is a cursed town already.

During investigations, Ong claimed that she was showering the Chihuahua as its tail was soiled with faeces at around 1.25am that day.

She clarified that she left the dog unattended while leaving the water running as she was using her telephone.

After returning to the washroom 5 minutes later, she found the Chihuahua lifeless and submerged in the water. She then tried to revive the dog by putting some force to its chest and blowing air into its mouth, however, to no avail.

Ong’s mum later arranged for the Chihuahua to be cremated later that day.

Post-mortem Says Otherwise

Luckily, AVA officers managed to retrieve the Chihuahua’s body before it was cremated by the pet cremation service provider.

The post-mortem examination, on the other hand, uncovered that the death was caused by a traumatic incident on its head and abdomen.

The injuries were said to be accompanied by liver lacerations, abdomen and lung bleeding.

Unlike what Ong had claimed, there was no evidence of drowning and injuries found on the dog were inconsistent with chest compression from cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).

Friend Witnessed The Abuse

The investigation also found that Ong’s friend had witnessed her mistreating the dog by picking it up by its neck and throwing it down in December 2017.

Ong’s friend added that the dog appeared to be weak when she visited on 12 January 2018 which is believed to be a result of under-feeding.

Ong has since pleaded guilty to two charges of abusing the dog and the prosecution has sought to ban her from keeping pets.

Uses Dogs As Emotional Support

Ong, who was not represented by a lawyer, pleaded with the judge to not order the ban as she had been using dogs as her “emotional support” for her mental illness.

She was reported to be crying at the dock and told the District Judge “I am okay with the price I have to pay – the fine and any mandatory treatment order – just that I am not okay with my dog being away. I need it by my side for me to go on.”.

Ong currently still owns another dog which was found to be healthy, with no sign of abuse, during AVA’s investigation.

The dog was said to have been taken away from her during investigations for a night, which resulted in her suffering from a panic attack.

Ong added that the dog was her emotional support and she can’t have it away, but she is willing to allow the AVA to check on the current dog.

She also admitted that she had not treated the dogs well and she was not in the right mind when she committed her offence.

The court is currently putting the ban on hold until the next court trial on 23 October 2019.

Rest in peace, little one.