Swiss man faces cane for graffiti

SINGAPORE: A Swiss man pleaded guilty yesterday to spray-painting graffiti on a Singapore subway carriage and could be caned as punishment.

Oliver Fricker, 32, pleaded guilty to one count each of vandalism and trespassing for breaking into a train depot and drawing graffiti on a subway carriage on May 16. Prosecutors dropped a second vandalism charge but submitted it to the judge for consideration in Fricker's sentencing, which was scheduled for early today.

Vandalism in Singapore carries a fine of up to S$2000 ($2036) or up to three years in jail, in addition to three to eight strokes of a cane.

Singapore caned American teenager Michael Fey for vandalism in 1994 - ignoring pleas for leniency by then-President Bill Clinton - in a case that drew international attention to the country's harsh punishments.

Singapore reiterated a ban on the sale of chewing gum this year and announced a crackdown on littering last month. The city-state has one of the lowest violent crime rates and highest standards of living in the world.

Prosecutors said Fricker, who is free on S$100,000 bail, committed the crimes with Lloyd Dane Alexander, a British national who is at large. Police issued an arrest warrant for Alexander, 29, earlier this month, and prosecutors said he fled to Hong Kong last month.

Fricker, who has worked in Singapore as an information technology consultant since 2008, and Alexander cut through a security fence and caused about S$11,000 of damage.

- AP