A 27-year-old Mainland man, who claimed to be from a wealthy family and operating billions’ worth of business has been remanded in custody having been found guilty of cruelty to animals contrary to section 3 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Ordinance, Cap 169.

Last year, Lan Tianqi, Lan threw his 4-month-old kitten against the wall causing multiple injuries because the kitten was not littering at the right place. Deputy Magistrate Gary Chu held that, on the basis of admission to a veterinarian and illustration of his actions caught in CCTV footage, the actions of Lan were not a joke despite Lan laughing the incident off. The Deputy Magistrate emphasised that Lan admitted to hitting the kitten twenty-odd times, and expressed that a custodial sentence was inevitable. He remanded Lan in custody until 22nd December 2021 in order to obtain a background report in aid of sentencing.

The incident occurred on 21 November 2020. Relevant CCTV showed that in responding to questions from the veterinarian, Lan, while smiling, pointed out that since the kitten littered somewhere inappropriate, he threw the kitten onto the wall. He accompanied his explanations with vigorous hand movements. After the incident, the kitten had injuries including but not limited to vigorously blinking, different sizes of pupils and swelling of its body and neck.

During his verdict, Deputy Magistrate Chu accepted evidence of all witnesses, especially the veterinarian and nurses who were responsible for assessing the kitten’s injuries, and decided that they were telling the truth and credible.

Whilst giving evidence at his trial and during his video recorded interview, Lan pointed out that he felt the staff from the veterinarian office were impatient and the medical history record to be not complete and rough. However, the Deputy Magistrate pointed out that Lan also did not point out his dissatisfactions with the veterinarian’s office immediately and continued with the kitten’s treatment.

Combining all the above factors, and the gravity of the offence and the extent of injuries sustained by the kitten, the Court did not call for Community Service Order Report or a Probation Report. The Judge indicated that a custodial sentence was inevitable.

The kitten injured in the incident has been taken care of by the SPCA and has fully recovered.

Case number: ESCC1054/2021

Courtesy of Karen Leung

Main Source: The Standard