Disturbing that rapist could own pet shop

I WAS disturbed by the article, 'Rapist gets 16 years, 10 strokes' (ST, March 10), not only because of the young age of the victim and the offender's lack of remorse, but also because of the fact that someone with such a history of crime, violence and gang activities could be allowed to own a pet shop.

The clientele of a pet shop would definitely include young people and children.

Furthermore, no one knows what hurt or harm he had done to the animals under his care.

In some countries, former offenders are not allowed to own businesses.

Although I believe that we should give ex-offenders a chance to turn over a new leaf and encourage them to be gainfully employed, we should not allow those with such violent past offences to own businesses like pet shops, where they are very likely to come into contact with young people, and can use their 'gang connections' to instil fear in their customers, in addition to having defenceless animals at their mercy.