A local man was arrested on Monday for beating a stray kitten to death with a wooden stick the previous day, Public Security Police (PSP) spokesman Wong Wai Chon said at a press briefing yesterday.
The 41-year-old suspect surnamed Lam told the police that he works as a casino dealer.
According to Wong, a citizen who often feeds stray cats in Rua do Capão in San Kio district called the Public Security Police on Sunday, telling them about a dead kitten left in a cardboard box in front of a building earlier that day, suspecting that someone had beaten it to death.
A preliminary examination by a veterinarian of the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) found that the kitten had sustained multiple fractures caused by external force.
According to Wong, Lam has no previous police record of animal abuse.
Wong said that the Public Security Police scrutinised CCTV footage of the nearby area and identified Lam as the suspect. PSP officers arrested him on Monday at his home in Rua da Pedra (石街). Lam admitted to committing the crime because he was in a bad mood at that time, as well as due to pressure from his family. Lam said he beat the kitten with a wooden stick to vent his anger, then put the carcass in a box and left it there.
Lam has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), facing an animal cruelty charge, according to Wong.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows PSP officers escorting the animal abuse suspect from the No.1 Police Station to a police car.
This undated handout photo provided by the Public Security Police (PSP) yesterday shows the wooden stick used by the animal abuse suspect to beat the kitten to death.
