With more and more videos of animal abuse popping up online, some might think that people have only been taking out their anger on animals in recent years.
But the sad truth is that animal abusers have been mistreating animals under their care for years, it just only recently started being filmed.
Typically, when we see an animal getting abused, we’ll do everything we can to stop it, or call the police at the very least.
But 38-year-old Chia Yong-Quan did something a little different: he picked up his phone to film the torture.
Man Filmed Cousin Torturing Poodle Instead of Helping
Chia and his cousin – Clement Chia Tian Xiang – met regularly over the years.
Clement owned a brown toy poodle named Leslie, which was just 4-years-old at the time of the offences.
Sometime between October 2016 and November 2016, Chia was in Clement’s flat when the latter began abusing his dog.
He bound the dog’s mouth shut with string and beat it with a closed fist multiple times. He even hit the dog with a hard plastic hanger several times on its right hind leg and right front leg.
He then held the poodle by one of its legs and held it off the ground, suspending the poor dog in mid-air before striking it repeatedly with a hanger.
The poodle was struggling and could be heard whimpering while this was happening.
While this act of cruelty was going on, Chia was in the background, seemingly unperturbed as he filmed both incidents of abuse.
At no point did he try to stop his cousin from abusing the dog.
Their offences came to light years later in July 2020, when six videos of Clement torturing his poodle – including the two clips by Yong-Quan – were shared by many Facebook users.
The authorities were alerted, and now the offenders have to face the consequences.
Fined $4,500, Banned From Owning Animals for a Year
If you thought that you couldn’t be prosecuted for filming incidents of animal abuse, well, you’re wrong.
Chia was charged with one count under the Animals and Birds Act of wantonly omitting to stop his cousin from cruelly torturing his dog.
He pleaded guilty to the charge, and was fined S$4,500 as a result. The 38-year-old was also banned from owning any animal for a year.
It could have been much worse for Chia, as the offence carries a penalty of up to 18 months in prison, a S$15,000 fine, or both.
The prosecutor argued that by filming the incident, Chia was arguably “more than a mere passive bystander – some level of abetment of the abuse or an implicit approval of the acts was shown, even if not intended”.
As for Clement, he too faces charges and is set to plead guilty later this month.
Featured Image: Rosa1116 / shutterstock.com
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