Lan Tianqi was found guilty of cruelty to animals at the Eastern Magistrates' Courts for throwing his cat against a wall on November 21, 2020.

Lan will be remanded in custody until he is sentenced on December 22, pending his background reports.

The consultant who claimed he ran businesses worth hundreds of millions yuan on the mainland appeared before deputy magistrate Gary Chu Man-hon on Wednesday.

Chu referred to security camera footage taken at a vet center, which captured the moment when Lan admitted the abuse to a vet. He said “I did this” when the vet asked him about the cat's injury.

The magistrate was of the view that Lan, who laughed when saying so to the vet, was not joking. Lan tried to brush off the fact that he caused injury to the cat with his laughter, Chu added.

Chu also accepted the testimonies of the vet and the nurse, saying the two were reliable witnesses.

Chu continued that if Lan was really a reputable man of high status, he would not have made such a joke. He didn't believe there would be anyone laughing at that “joke” as well.

Lan earlier defended himself in court, saying he felt the vet and the nurse were impatient when treating the cat.

However, Chu said the two kept asking about the injury of the cat and conducted further medical examination of it. They did not show him any disrespect.

Convicting Lan, the magistrate said he would not consider community service or probation for sentence, as the case is of serious nature and the cat sustained severe injury.