The kitten was found dead with a cable tie around its neck after it was taken from the resort's office on June 5, 2023. - PHOTO: UTAMA VILLA TULAMBEN
SINGAPORE, June 17 (The Straits Times/ANN): Indonesian police are investigating the alleged killing of a kitten by a Singapore-registered nurse at a dive resort in Bali during his stay in June.
A spokesman for the Utama Villa Tulamben resort confirmed with The Straits Times that the 31-year-old man is now being investigated by Indonesian police for trespassing, theft and animal cruelty after the resort lodged a report on June 6.
It has also contacted the authorities in Singapore regarding the case.
According to a Facebook post by the resort on Thursday, a six-week-old kitten named Monkey was found dead on June 6.
“She had been callously thrown over our resort’s boundary wall in a yellow Prime Supermarket plastic bag, with a cable tie tightened around her neck, suggesting strangulation. This senseless act of cruelty has left us devastated,” the post said.
The resort also separately told ST that Prime Supermarket, where the plastic bag was from, does not operate in Indonesia.
Established in 1984, Prime Supermarket is one of Singapore’s pioneer local supermarket chains. It started with five mini-mart outlets and now has 24 outlets across the island. There is no mention on its website that it operates in other countries.
The man and his companion at the resort were identified by the resort as registered nurses in Singapore, with the man having worked in several healthcare institutions here.
According to the spokesman for the villa, the man works at Sengkang General Hospital (SKH). But the hospital responded in a Facebook post on Thursday, saying that it “takes a serious view of this incident” and that the man in question “is no longer employed at SKH since February 2020”.
“We have also informed the Singapore Nursing Board regarding this inaccurate information. The records have since been corrected,” it added.
A check by ST found that he is not a nurse at any of the other public hospitals under the three healthcare clusters.
The man is also reportedly accredited by several diving organisations as a divemaster, according to information he submitted to the resort before his stay. A divemaster typically assists instructors with classes and leads certified divers on diving trips, according to the Professional Association of Diving Instructors website.
The man was caught on CCTV taking the kitten from the office of Utama Villa Tulamben through the window. - PHOTO: UTAMA VILLA TULAMBEN
The resort’s dive guide also noted “troubling accounts of his misconduct underwater” during a dive trip the man and his companion embarked on with a group of guests who did not know the duo.
The Straits Times has contacted the diving organisations the man is linked to for more information.
Accompanying the Facebook post, the Utama Villa Tulamben resort identified the man and his companion by linking more than 50 videos from security camera footage across the resort’s 12 cameras, as well as several images of the duo and screengrabs of their particulars.
The resort alleged that its security footage showed the man repeatedly visiting its office several times past midnight on June 5 looking for the kitten.
Following this, at about 10.30am the same day, the man appeared to “forcefully” take the kitten through an office window that he opened, taking it back to his room.
The kitten’s body was found the next day near the guest’s room on the other side of the boundary wall, said the resort.
Staff then confronted the man, who denied taking the kitten until he was shown the security footage. The spokesman said he then claimed the cat had run away, and insisted that he had searched for it. The resort said that the man’s search was not recorded by any of its CCTV cameras.
The resort does not have actual footage of the man allegedly killing the kitten, but had recorded a yellow bag being thrown out from the bathroom of the unit the man was staying in, the same morning the kitten was taken.
It added that the man had “challenged” the resort via messaging platform WhatsApp to share the incident online, claiming that he was innocent.
Criminal lawyer Johannes Hadi, from the Eugene Thuraisingam law firm, said that even if the alleged act is proven, it would be difficult to prosecute the man in Singapore.
The main legislation criminalising cruelty to animals, the Animals and Birds Act 1965, does not have extraterritorial effect. It applies only to offences committed in Singapore.
“This is the legal limiting factor, regardless of public outcry. If, however, he is a registered nurse, he might find himself having to explain to the Singapore Nursing Board how gratuitous violence towards a helpless kitten complies with Principle 8 of the Code for Nurses and Midwives, which requires nurses to uphold the reputation of the profession at all times and to preserve public trust and confidence,” Mr Hadi said.
The man and his companion stayed at the resort between June 2 and 5. They then travelled to Kuta for a day before returning to Singapore on June 6, said the resort.
The kitten was not sent for an autopsy, and has since been buried.
ST has contacted both the Singapore Nursing Board and the man for their responses. - The Straits Times/ANN
