He allegedly abused a toy poodle multiple times until it died.

Yesterday, Gerald Kok Zhin Oi, 22, was charged with seven counts of ill-treating the dog named Treasure in a Toa Payoh flat between July and December last year.

Court papers did not reveal the identity of the dog's owner.

Three of the charges stated that he allegedly used a sofa cushion to repeatedly hit Treasure.

On one occasion last July, Kok allegedly used it to hit the dog about 10 times in a span of 15 minutes.

He is also accused of using a plastic clothes hanger to hit it once between 10am and 10.30am on Dec 25 last year.

Kok, whose occupation was not revealed in court, allegedly flung the dog violently to the corner of a bed on two separate occasions at around the same time that day.

According to court documents, about seven hours later, Kok carried Treasure from one bedroom into another. After that, he allegedly flung it violently towards a bed yet again, hitting it on a wall. The injured dog later died.

In a release yesterday, the Agri- Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) said it was alerted to the case four days later.

It added: "AVA takes a stern view of animal cruelty and will not hesitate to take enforcement action against any person or organisation found to have committed acts of animal cruelty. We will press for deterrent sentences if warranted.

"Members of the public can contact AVA on 1800-476-1600 to report cases of animal cruelty."

Kok, who is represented by lawyers Cory Wong and Josephus Tan, will be back in court on June 21.

For each count of animal abuse, first-time offenders can be jailed up to 18 months and fined up to $15,000.

Repeat offenders can be jailed up to three years and fined up to $30,000 for each charge.