SINGAPORE - A woman strangled her pet dog to death after claiming she wanted to stop it from barking, a court heard.

During her psychiatric assessment, Wang Jun claimed she heard airplanes in the sky on Aug 30, 2016, and feared they would drop bombs on her.

The 24-year-old then went to her dog, a West Highland Terrier named Junior, to stop it from barking. She sat on the dog, covered its mouth and strangled it with one hand, while using the other to hit its neck area in an attempt to silence it.

She only released the dog after she realised it began foaming at the mouth.

By then, the dog had died.

Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority prosecuting officer Edwin Ignatious M told the court that at about 11.30am that day, Wang's mother-in-law saw her taking an umbrella and moving into Junior's playpen.

She found this unusual and decided to film Wang. She then saw how Wang killed the dog.

When police arrived at the Tiong Bahru flat, they found Wang to be in a daze. When questioned, she started talking nonsense.

She could not account for her actions and appeared to be mentally unstable.

On Wednesday (Nov 30), Community Court Judge Lim Keng Yeow called for a mandatory treatment order suitability report after convicting Wang of ill-treating her dog.

Wang will be back in court on Dec 29.

The maximum penalty for the offence under the Animals and Birds Act is a $15,000 fine and 18 months' jail.