Maid charged with animal abuse for allegedly beating employer’s dog which later died

SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/ANN): A maid who allegedly beat her employer’s dog which later died was arrested on Aug 26 and charged in a district court on Aug 27.

Junny Lal Awn Pui, 26, a Myanmar national, faces four charges under the Animals and Birds Act. The charges accuse her of abusing a 13-year-old male brown poodle named “Boyboy” on Jan 22 between 9.50am and 11.45am.

Her alleged acts of abuse include grabbing the dog by its neck, pinning it to the ground and forcefully hitting its head with her hand and a stick made up of rolled paper.

The maid is also said to have pressed her leg on the dog while trying to bandage it, and hung the animal by its harness on a balcony railing to “sun” it.

The court heard on Aug 27 that the prosecution intends to proceed on three charges if Junny Lal Awn Pui opts to plead guilty.

The maid said she wants to contest the charge alleging she hung the dog on the balcony, as her employer had asked her to do it. She intends to plead guilty to the remaining three charges.

If this is her first offence, Junny Lal Awn Pui can be fined up to $15,000 and jailed for up to 18 months for each count of animal abuse.

In an earlier interview, her employer told The Straits Times he had rescued the dog in 2015 after finding it wandering along Rochor Road, where it was almost hit by a bus.

Sometime in mid-December 2023, he hired a maid to help out at his home and look after the dog.

The alleged abuse happened when he was not at home. He found out about it when he viewed footage from CCTV cameras installed in his home.

After he learnt of his dog’s death, the owner made a police report and the matter was escalated to the Animal and Veterinary Service under the National Parks Board for investigation. – The Straits Times/ANN