Friday, June 25, 2010

News Update Jailed 5 months and caning


Oliver Fricker was sentenced to five months jail and three strokes of the cane for breaking into a protected place and vandalising an SMRT train by spray-painting two of its carriages. -- ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

CONVICTED vandal Oliver Fricker was sentenced to five months' jail and three strokes of the cane on Friday evening for entering a protected place and spraying paint on two carriages of an SMRT train.

The 32-year-old IT consultant is appealing against his sentence, according to his lawyer, Mr Derek Kang.

Fricker, who went to jail on Friday, had admitted to a vandalism charge and an offence under the Protected Areas and Protected Places Act. He did them with his friend, Briton Dane Alexander Lloyd, 29, at the SMRT Changi depot between May 16 and 17.

A third charge of cutting the perimeter fence of the depot was considered during his sentencing.
The graffiti on the train with the large words McKoy Banos was seen by many commuters and members of the public before it was reported by a SMRT staff two days later.

Seeking an appropriate jail term on each of the two charges, Deputy Pubic Prosecutor Sharon Lim argued that such serious breach of the law could not be taken lightly or viewed as a mere prank. The duo, she said, were experienced graffiti writers who had targeted the SMRT train which is the backbone of Singapore's public transport system. Fricker could have been jailed for up to three years for the vandalism charge; and up to two years for entering a protected place.