Boon Lay Cat Murder (2022)
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A Boon Lay community cat, affectionately known as Panther by the residents, was found dead near Block 186 Boon Lay Avenue.[1] Panther died from an unnatural cause and was discovered to be due to the impact of falling from a height.[1] This case sparked off many citizens’ fury as the perpetrator is a minor and has not been arrested nor taken into custody as of 21 December 2022.[1]
Details of incident
On the 14th December (Wednesday), Umi Solikati, 39 year-old, Boon Lay resident had reportedly found their community cat, Panther, dead near Block 186 Boon Lay Avenue around 2pm, according to The Straits Times.[1] The cat had been thrown off the 22nd floor of a Block in Boon Lay. The perpetrator was revealed to be a 10 year-old boy.[2]
Upon confrontation, the boy in question initially denied his actions. He later confessed to this act on further questioning.[2][3] The boy has said that he did it as he ‘did not receive love and care from his family’.[3]
Chan Mui Mui, 49, another Boon Lay resident who regularly fed the cats, had told Straits Times that Panther’s death wasn’t an outlying incident and that there had been 5 cats being thrown off the same block in the past 2-3 years.[1]
Responses
A 1-minute video of the incident taking place circulated on the internet on Thursday.[1] There has been a heated debate to which the boy should receive legal punishment for his actions as a minor.[2]
Change.org Petition
Nadya Im created a Change.org Petition, Justice for Panther, shortly after the video had been posted.[4]As of December 2022, over 66,000 signatures have been collected.[4]
Reddit Thread Discussion
Many redditors’ sentiments were that the boy should be held accountable for his actions regardless of his age.[5] Majority of the comments said that “he knew what he was doing” and some even suggested his very act of animal cruelty could be “early signs of psychopathy”.[5]
Further Developments
Panther’s Memorial
The Boon Lay residents held a makeshift memorial for Panther on 17th December 2022.[6] Tiktok user @ummycatty posted a video of the makeshift memorial.
Many visited the memorial subsequently and it was soon filled with flowers, canned cat food and stuffed animals.[7]
References / Citations
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 “AVS probe under way after video shows boy throwing cat off 22nd storey of HDB block”. The Straits Times. December 16, 2022. Accessed on 21 December 2022.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 “Singaporean boy caught on camera flinging cat off 22nd floor triggers punishment debate.” Yahoo! News. December 20, 2022. Accessed on 21 December 2022
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 “Boon Lay cat Panther's makeshift memorial flooded by flowers & soft toys as S'poreans honour him”. Mothership. December 20,2022. Accessed on 21 December 2022
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 “Justice For Panther”. Change.org. December 15,2022. Accessed on 21 December 2022.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 “Should the boy who threw the cat be punished?”. Reddit. December 16,2022. Accessed on 21 December 2022.
- ↑ “Rest in peace Panther, we loved you… #fyp #sgviral #fypシ #viralvideo #catsoftiktok #cat #kucing #viraltiktok #budakdegil #dangerboy #boonlay” Tiktok. December 16, 2022. Accessed on 21 December 2022.
- ↑ Janet Cashcash Chin. “at Blk 186 @ Boonlay”. Facebook. December 20,2022. Accessed on 21 December 2022.