Why are the responses to the cat murderer and the River Valley murderer so different?
In both cases they were children who did a senseless and murderous crime. Cat killer was a 10 year old, River Valley killer was 16.
In the River Valley case, everyone was talking about how sad the whole situation is, and how two Singaporean sons were lost, and how the perp is also a victim (of stress, mental health, society, etc).
In this cat killer case however everyone is calling for the kid’s head. And calling for his name and his parents’ names to be published, and even making violence/death threats against him.
Why are the responses to the cat murderer and the River Valley murderer so different? Is it as simple as there being a video for the cat killer but not for the River Valley murder?
So people don’t have any ‘real’ media to react to in the River Valley case and can think about it in an abstract and maybe more objective way? Or are people more sympathetic towards a cat victim than a human teen victim?
Netizens’ comments
- Colleague’s daughter’s primary school friend was in the same class as the deceased RV boy. Through the friend and the friend’s mother who told my colleague what happened after the incident, it was mental breakdown from the sec 4 student and the deceased was indeed in the wrong place at the wrong time. The RV killer was known to have mental health issues and his classmates were said to be protective of him before the incident. We don’t know what triggered him to snap.
This cat killer, according to rumours, showed no remorse and asked if he will be sent to jail or a boys home. That shows he knows what he did was wrong, no? And there were previous reports of other cats falling from heights in the same block. These repeated and deliberate actions are calculated, and that is not normal. - The River Valley murder sounds like a case of a boy who lost his mind, went crazy and killed someone when he broke.
The cat murder case sounds like a case of a boy who derived entertainment out of seeing an animal plunge to its death. Who does not care about how his actions (to derive pleasure) might be harmful to others.
Note that these are obviously assumptions, but they are easy to take up and form opinions with. The internet is an echo chamber and we have a tendency of forming judgements without scrutinizing the facts.
Hope all parties can be rehabilitated. - River Valley case seems to be more of a mental breakdown, but this cat killer genuinely finds pleasure in throwing cats to their deaths. Very different scenarios.