#trending: Man under fire for allegedly mistreating cat in viral videos issues public apology

SINGAPORE — A man in Singapore has come under fire after several videos of him allegedly mistreating a cat was posted on Instagram. The videos show him swinging a cat like a pendulum, tossing it up in the air and spinning it around on the floor. 

The man, identified as Jimmy Wong, has since issued a public apology for his actions, claiming that he had “no intention” of harming the cat and was unaware that “playing with the cat” in such a manner risked hurting the animal.

The first video of the alleged abuse was posted on Sept 28, where Mr Wong can be seen swinging an orange short-haired Persian cat, named Pidan, by its hind legs while the animal yowls.

The short clip appears to be from a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera and was posted on the cat’s official Instagram page “pidanlee”. 

In the caption, the account administrator who is understood to be Pidan’s owner as well as Mr Wong’s ex-girlfriend, called him a “narcissist” who is incapable of feeling love for pets and noted that she had left the “toxic (and) abusive relationship”.

The video has received more than 163,000 views with many users condemning Mr Wong’s actions as “disgusting” and “horrifying” while urging the cat’s owner to report him to the authorities.

About a week later on Oct 7, a video of Mr Wong spinning Pidan on the ground on multiple occasions was published on the same account. Another recording of him tossing the cat into the air before flinging it back and forth by its forelegs was later released on the same day. This video has since chalked up 300,000 views at the time of writing.

Mr Wong’s ex-girlfriend said in the caption that she had recorded the third video in secret. She also revealed that Mr Wong had filed a police report against her over the first video for "harassment".

Speaking to Mothership website, the woman claimed to have witnessed her cat’s head “hit the chair or wall while spinning at fast speed”. It was her father who noticed that the cat could not open one of its eyes fully.

She also said that Mr Wong had fed her cat “Korean chilli” and broke the cat’s tooth “when he tried to clean the inner mouth roughly”.

Following the controversy, Mr Wong apologised via his Instagram account on Saturday (Oct 8) and addressed the allegations made against him.

In a statement he put up on the account “datojimmywong”, the chairman and chief executive officer of JF Lennon Institute of Financial Science expressed his “deepest and most sincere” apologies to animal lovers.

He went on to claim that he had “completely no intention” of hurting the cat and did not know that “playing” with the animal in such a manner could harm it.

He added that he was pushed to make a “public announcement” seeing that the incident had been “blown out of proportion”, involving even his daughter.

Mr Wong wrote that the situation is “a very straightforward love-hate relationship breakup” between him and his former girlfriend, whom he identified as Summer Lee Ying Hui.

He also tried to rebuke Ms Lee’s allegations on social media that he had inflicted various injuries on the cat.

“Here are the facts,” he wrote. “The injury to its paw was from climbing the wire mesh in the house (cat-proofing feature), while the swollen eye was due to an infection.”

He claimed that Ms Lee had told him that the infection was a “small issue” that did not warrant a trip to the veterinarian.

Mr Wong also insisted that Ms Lee did not express any displeasure in the way he handled her pet and was present during all three incidents, personally recording them.

He concluded by acknowledging that the incident was a consequence of his actions and implored the public to stop sending death threats to his family and associates.

Mr Wong's Instagram post had received 90 likes at the time of writing.

On the same day, Ms Lee posted an update on the Instagram account “pidanlee”, thanking her friends for lending their emotional support. She also said that the Animal and Veterinary Service (AVS) had come by to check on the cat that day.

She wrote that she hoped Mr Wong would be punished for his actions and assured her followers that the cat is in safe hands.

Accompanying one of the Oct 7 videos, Ms Lee wrote that a police report has been filed against Mr Wong.