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An online petition has been started on Change.org calling for a harsher sentence to be imposed on Platinium Dogs Club (PDC) owner Charlotte Liew two days after she was sentenced to two weeks' jail and a S$35,700 fine.
The petition, started by a person going by the name of Andrew Tan, called for a review of the punishment imposed on PDC's owner for animal abuse and obstruction of justice.
Petition to review Liew's sentence
In the petition, Liew, 33, was said to have received "a hefty fine but a short jail term".
The petition labelled the sentence as unfair "compared to the anguish caused to the owners" who lost their beloved pets.
The petition is appealing for a heavier jail sentence for Liew, to signal that "Singaporeans do not condone animal abuse".
In less than a day, the Sep. 1 petition received more than 7,200 signatures.
"Due process" for the case
With attention trained on PDC in January 2019 when the incident blew up in Singapore, law and home affairs minister K. Shanmugam assured Singaporeans on Facebook then that "there will be due process" for the case.
But the eventual punishment meted out has failed to quell public displeasure, with the main contention being that Liew's sentence was too light.
Screen shots from Change.org.
Despite Singapore's two-third remission system, Liew would not be released in fewer than 10 days as those sentenced to jail for 14 days or less shall not be entitled to have their sentence remitted.
Under the Animal and Birds Act, for each charge of failing in her duty to care for the dogs, Liew could have been jailed for up to two years or fined up to S$40,000, or both.
Dog owners share petition
On the day the petition was created, the owner of Prince, a dog that died while under Liew's care in the pet boarding house, took to Facebook to ask others to sign and share the petition.
Prince (Left). QQ (Right). Images via Elaine Mao and Joanne Png.
Death of two dogs in PDC
PDC was a dog boarding facility located at 7 Galistan Avenue in Bukit Panjang.
In late 2018, after several customers complained on social media about PDC's animal mistreatment, the extent of Liew's negligence was exposed.
In December 2018, two dogs died during their stay in PDC.
One of the dogs was Prince, a seven-year-old Shetland Sheepdog, and the other was QQ, a 14-year-old Jack Russell Terrier.
Liew's sentencing
Liew pleaded guilty to a total of seven charges, including four for failing in her duty to care for the dogs.
Of the four charges, one was for QQ's death, and another was for a dog named Texas that escaped from PDC.
The other two charges pertained to the unnecessary suffering of two other dogs who were rescued from PDC by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA).
For QQ's death, Liew was fined S$20,000.
For intentionally obstructing the course of justice by disposing of Prince's carcass, Liew was sentenced to two weeks' jail.
She is also prohibited from running animal-related businesses for 12 months.
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