A 33-year-old woman was sentenced to 16 weeks’ jail on Thursday (12 November 2026) after 71 cats were left without enough food or water for nearly two years in a Bukit Panjang HDB flat.
Nurul Nadiah Noor Mohamed pleaded guilty to 24 charges under the Animals and Birds Act for allowing the cats to suffer unnecessarily. She was also barred from owning pets for 12 months.
Muhammad Khairul Naim Zainol, 37, was sentenced separately for his role in the case on 23 September. He also received 16 weeks’ jail and a 12-month ban on owning animals after pleading guilty to 24 charges.
Cats Left Behind When the Pair Moved Out
The pair began taking in cats in 2019. The cats had not been sterilised, and their numbers continued to grow despite attempts to find them new homes.
In April 2022, Nurul and Khairul moved in with his parents, leaving the cats at their flat at Block 469 Segar Road. Water and electricity were cut off a few months later because the utility bills had gone unpaid.
Khairul said he returned daily to bring food and water. He said he began leaving them at the doorstep when it became harder to enter the flat. Court documents showed that Nurul went with him on almost all of those visits, The Straits Times reported.
A Cat on an Air-Conditioning Ledge Led to the Discovery
On 20 February 2024, the Animal and Veterinary Service was alerted to a thin, distressed cat on the flat’s air-conditioning ledge. The cat was rescued and taken for a veterinary check. Police also received a separate call that day about a smell coming from the flat.
Officers found 61 live cats inside, along with the remains of cats that had died. Including the cat rescued from the ledge, 62 were recovered alive. Nine died.
A National Parks Board veterinarian found that nine of the cats assessed were severely underweight and that the food left at the entrance was far too little for the number of cats there.
At Nurul’s sentencing, District Judge Kenneth Chin pointed to the number of animals involved and how long the neglect had lasted. He said the cats had depended entirely on the pair for their care.
