Woman who beat and hung up dog in balcony sentenced to jail for animal abuse

SINGAPORE: A maid who, following her employer's instructions, abused a pet poodle by hitting it and suspending it from a balcony railing, was sentenced to nine months in jail on Tuesday (Nov 26).

Myanmar national Junny Lal Awn Pui, 26, was found guilty of three counts of animal cruelty under the Animals and Cruelty Act.

A National Parks Board (NParks) veterinary report said multiple acts of abuse most likely led to the death of the male brown dog, known as Boyboy.

Earlier this year, a Facebook post by Derrick Tan, the president of the charity Voice for Animals, showed closed-circuit television footage of Junny Lal Awn Pui hitting the dog.

In one video, she is seen holding the dog down on the ground by its neck as she hits it with her hand. As the dog struggles, she hits it twice with a long, rigid rod-like object.

In another video, she uses the rod to hit the dog's head while it is tied to a tap. The dog is also seen leashed and left to hang in its harness from the balcony railing.

According to court documents, Junny Lal Awn Pui had received instructions from her employer, a 37-year-old woman named Heng, regarding the care of the dog, which was estimated to be 15 years old.

The dog had belonged to Heng’s boyfriend, a 43-year-old man named Lai. Lai and his previous girlfriend, Yap, had adopted the dog when they found it along Rochor Road in January 2015. 

Lai would keep the dog at his home following his breakup with Yap in 2018. But after he entered a relationship with Heng, both agreed to keep the dog at Heng’s home. Lai installed a motion-sensor recording device on the balcony where the dog slept.

The full names of Heng, Lai and Yap were redacted.

HIT, HUNG AND HIT AGAIN

Under Heng’s instructions to Junny Lal Awn Pui, Boyboy was to be treated separately from Heng’s other two dogs. It was to be confined to the balcony and rarely permitted into the rest of the home.

The segregation extended to feeding practices, with Heng instructing her maid to feed Boyboy separately on the balcony, away from her other two dogs.

In one instance of abuse caught on camera on the morning of Jan 22, 2024, Junny Lal Awn Pui was seen pinning the dog to the ground and hitting it with her hand, before hitting the dog's head forcefully with a rod-like object.

She did this as she had been instructed by Heng to hit the dog if it started to eat without being told to do so. Heng made the rod by rolling up pet food packaging.

About an hour later that morning, Junny Lal Awn Pui, again acting on Heng’s instructions, tied and hung Boyboy about 30cm from the ground by its harness. This was done to expose it to the sun, ostensibly to reduce the dog’s odour.

The maid would then hit Boyboy's head two more times with the rod, causing it to bark in pain. The dog remained motionless after it was hit a second time. 

These three acts, all caught on camera, took place between 9.52am and 11.46am

The amount of force inflicted on Boyboy would have very likely “caused pain and a head concussion” to the dog due to its size in proportion to the force of impact, prosecutors said, with one vet’s report stating that they “very likely contributed the most to its death”.

BOYBOY'S DEATH

At about 12pm, Boyboy was tied to a short leash under direct sunlight at the balcony. It lay motionless on its left side with its hind legs extended forward, with occasional trembling and twitching.

Junny Lal Awn Pui was instructed by Heng at 1.24pm to check on Boyboy. The maid found the dog biting its tongue and bleeding from its mouth. She informed her employer, and the two checked Boyboy and found that the dog had already died.

Junny Lal Awn Pui then picked up Boyboy and tossed its body to one side of the balcony.

“There were also no visible signs of respiration from (Boyboy), which had died as a result of the repeated beatings received from the accused,” prosecutors said.

Sometime later that day, Heng contacted Mandai Pet Sanctuary to arrange for the dog’s carcass to be collected for cremation.

The carcass was transported to Mandai and placed inside a fridge after Heng informed the driver to hold off on the cremation, as she wanted to inform her boyfriend and Boyboy’s owner, Lai, first.

OWNER SUSPICIOUS

Heng then drove herself and Junny Lal Awn Pui to Lai’s house at around 5pm, where they waited until he returned home at 10pm. Heng celebrated Lai’s birthday and informed him about his dog’s death after the celebrations.

Boyboy was cremated at Mandai the next day. On viewing the carcass, Lai noticed that the dog’s limbs were straightened and became suspicious, as it had been very active the day before it died.

Lai then reviewed CCTV footage, which revealed Junny Lal Awn Pui’s abuses. This prompted him to meet with his ex-girlfriend Yap on Jan 25, who then lodged a report with NParks.

Boyboy’s possessions, including its bowl, soap, brush, towel and toy bone, the rod, as well as the CCTV camera, were disposed of by Heng on Jan 24, two days after the acts of abuse.

“The vet report indicates that (Boyboy) experienced “severe pain and suffering” and that “it is very likely that the blows to the head would have caused the dog to suffer painful head trauma and subsequent incapacitation”, prosecutors argued.

“In the absence of any other likely contributing factors, the repeated traumatic beatings would have very likely caused the death of (Boyboy), the prosecutors added, citing the vet report.

Junny Lal Awn Pui had been employed by Heng since Dec 16 last year. CNA has asked NParks if any action will be taken against her employer.