SINGAPORE — An 18-year-old boy was playing with a cat belonging to one of his neighbours in April 2023 when he performed a lewd act on the animal, which did not suffer any injuries.

A nearby CCTV camera recorded the incident and the clip went viral soon after.

In unrelated incidents, the youth also harassed and assaulted a 19-year-old course mate who has mild intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder.

The offender, who is now 20, cannot be named as he was below 18 years old when he committed theft in 2022.

On May 23, he pleaded guilty to one count each of assault, harassment and doing an obscene act in a public place. Two counts of theft and a second assault charge will be considered during his sentencing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Dillon Kok told the court that a 35-year-old man, who lived in a Senja Road block of flats, owned the cat, which he allowed to roam freely outside his home.

The offender, who also lived in the same block, saw the cat in a public place at around 1.50am on April 8, 2023, and decided to play with it.

The DPP said: "The accused started patting the cat and fed it some cat food that he found on a shelf outside the flat. At about 1.52am, while the cat was consuming its food, the accused got sexually aroused by the cat."

The offender then lowered his shorts and performed an obscene act on the cat before it moved away.

Another neighbour showed the cat owner the CCTV footage soon after.

Feeling annoyed, the owner uploaded the clip onto his social media account as he wanted to identify the offender. He also took the cat to a veterinarian, who found that it had not sustained any injuries.

"(The owner however) noted that the cat appeared to be reluctant to remain outside the flat after the incident," said the prosecutor.

On April 11, 2023, a member of the public alerted the police about the incident and officers arrested the offender later that day.

In the cases involving the offender's course mate, the court heard that the offender and the victim attended the same classes in 2022. Details about the course were redacted from court documents.

The offender did not like the victim and would constantly bully him — both physically and in cyberspace.

The court heard that the offender, who had a bigger build than the victim, openly picked on the latter. His acts included verbally abusing and threatening the victim, tripping him in class, hitting him and demanding money from him.

DPP Kok said: "The victim did not dare to stand up to or report the accused for fear of his own safety as the accused had threatened to hurt him if he informed his parents, teachers or anyone else.

"Some instances of the accused's bullying were reported to the school authorities by their course mates. When counselled, the accused would acknowledge and apologise for his actions, but the bullying remained unabated."

On March 31, 2022, the offender exchanged text messages with the victim and repeatedly sent the latter expletive-laden insults. He also threatened to kill the victim.

The pair were in class in November that year when the offender saw the victim resting his head against another course mate's bag.

The DPP said that the offender then became irritated "for no ostensible reason" and later followed the victim to a toilet.

After that, he asked the victim why he had to rest his head against the bag. The victim did not know how to answer and kept quiet. The offender was angered by this and slapped the victim's face.

In 2023, the victim's father finally chanced upon the text messages from the previous year and lodged a police report.

The offender was charged in court in 2024.

On May 23, the court called for reports to assess his suitability for both probation and reformative training.

Young offenders ordered to undergo reformative training are detained in a centre to undergo a strict regimen that can include foot drills and counselling.

The youth will be sentenced in July.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.