Shima Aris was summoned to the Brickfields police headquarters at 10am today to give a statement as a witness.

According to her lawyer, Rajesh Nagarajan, Shima spent an hour and a half giving her statement, where she defended her claim that the cats were harmed by a person, rather than stray dogs.

“She gave her full cooperation to the police and answered all the questions which were directed to her,” Rajesh told FMT.

Two dead cats were found at UM’s Faculty of Business and Economics on Dec 12 and 16. The discovery led to the UM Students’ Union lodging a police report on Dec 17.

Another report was filed on Dec 20 over the deaths of four cats in different locations on the campus.

Police had previously said the dead cats were likely attacked by a pack of stray dogs. However, Shima disputed the police’s findings and called for a fresh probe.

She cited a post-mortem carried out by a private clinic on one of the carcasses which found lesions that were “highly likely” caused by sharp objects. The legs of one of the cats also appeared to have been severed.

Police have since opened a fresh investigation, with Kuala Lumpur police chief Rusdi Isa saying they were still in the early stages of the probe.

Yesterday evening, another cat and a dog were found dead on the campus grounds near the university’s sports arena, purportedly with slash wounds to their stomachs.

Shima later said the dog had died after being hit by a vehicle. The cat’s carcass was handed over to the police.