Swiss national Oliver Fricker has been sentenced to five months in jail and three strokes of the cane, after pleading guilty to spray-painting two train carriages and for trespassing into Changi train depot. A third charge for cutting the fence at the depot was stood down.
The 32-year-old could have be jailed up to three years, fined a maximum of $2,000 and received a maximum eight strokes of the cane. For entering a protected place, he could have received a maximum of two years in jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000.
The graffiti was discovered by SMRT staff on 17 May. However, it was only two days later that the alarm was raised by SMRT staff when the train was recalled to the workshop for scheduled maintenance. The public did not know about the incident until weeks later when a video of the graffiti was posted on YouTube.
SMRT, in a statement on 8 June, said it “deeply regret that a serious security lapse had occurred in our depot.” It explained that its staff had “noticed the graffiti on the train but did not sound the alarm as [the graffiti] was done artistically and mistaken for an advertisement.”
Mr Choy Kin Chong, Head, SMRT Security & Emergency Planning said , “SMRT is working closely with the authorities to determine, establish and implement more measures to further strengthen security in our depots, including additional surveillance and intrusion detection systems, to detect and prevent future breaches.”
Fricker’s alleged accomplice, Dane Alexander Lloyd, is believed to have fled to Hong Kong after the incident. Singapore has issued a warrant for his arrest and has sought the help of Interpol.
The case has attracted international media attention, particularly in Switzerland and Britain.
Human rights activists have called the use of caning as inhumane and that caning is considered a form of torture.
In 1994, 18-year-old American teenager Michael Fay was given six strokes of the cane for vandalising cars and stealing road signs. Fay’s six strokes were reduced to four after then-US President Bill Clinton appealed for clemency on his behalf.
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A video of an actual caning has been leaked out of Malaysia. You can view it here (caution: explicit content).
Headline picture courtesy of The Straits Times
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opps that HURT (not a joke please)
poor bloke who wants to share his talents endup kanna WHIPPED for a swiss national whose country believed in redcross…
Wrong place to execute a prank – even if it is done with some artistic taste.
His humour was not appreciated, and had in fact inflicted wounded pride on an administration too proud to admit its own weaknesses.
Five months in jail should provide sufficient time to heal the 3 cutting strokes of the cane – that will tear the soft side of his buttocks.
How does this compares to Michael Faye? Thought this is serious security breach…
HIS GRAFITTI ON SMRT TRAIN WOULD PROBABLY SAVED HUNDREDS, IF NOT THOUSAND OF SINGAPOREAN LIVES.
HIS GRAFITTI SHOWED HOW EASY IT IS TO BOMB SMRT TRAINS.
HE DESERVES A MEDAL.
Oh, my “GOD”, it is really barbaric and crude cum cruel!
Indeed, really, no eye to see this type of capital punishment being imposed on human being. Where are the humanities of man-kind?
Does it make any difference whether a person has the licence to “whip” the other person using ” thick wooden stick”?
A barbarous treatment is a barbaric behaviour whether with licence or not!
Now to wait and see if the system has the cojones to carry this thing out.
From a Swiss news website: http://www.20min.ch/news/kreuz_und_quer/story/Schweizer-Sprayer-zu-Stockschlaegen-verurteilt-19779883
Mr Fricker is sentenced to: 5 months in Jail + 3 strokes of cane.
According to the report, Mr Fricker had planned this crime, together with his Brit pal (Dane. L) whom he met in Australia.
Apparently, he had scouted for the BEST location to spray paint with the help of GOOGLE EARTH.
On 15th May, after Mr Fricker and his friend has sprayed painted the train, they took some photograph of their work and then left. Soon their graffiti attracted much attention after its appearance on Youtube and hence lead to the investigation and Fricker’s arrest.
He remained to be “suspended from service” from his current employer, however they do not see the need for a “quick respond” (i.e. fire him).
My heart bleeds seeing the video.
I am just wondering, whether the Judge’s sentence be difference if he were to do it with “terrorist intent” or “naughty intent” or “artistic intent”.
In the real world, some company pays “hacker” as a way to test the “computer security system”.
hope they cane his ass in such a way that it will leave a permanent artist tear on his ass. Greatest gift of all he got from Singapore. pei pei pei
I think we should thank him for exposing SMRT weakness in the security dept.
Tooo bad ,as usual, our authorities want ” Face” -so you kanna “Whacked”.
New Citizens -enjoy your new life here-5 years down the road -laws will changed slowly and you guys will be “trapped” with the ability to gain from anything,assets,etc…
Live longer and you will understand –by then its too late for you ! -welcome to Your Singapore !
Dane Alexander Lloyd is a chickenshit weasel.
so sad for the white prick..if he had committed this act of vandalism any other time rather right smack on election yr…he would have go home with just a polite warning due to his superior white skin…
A premediated crime. A planned action just before he was about to leave Singapore. If not caught, he will probably be gloating about his great deed over beers with his friends and laughing at the stupid Singaporeans.
You came to our shore at our generosity to work, you have to obey our laws.
Sorry, I can’t feel any sympathies for you.
A person with a great job, a good education, but no respect for other’s law and proprty. What’s the use?
Well, he has finally found something that is more permanent than Ironlak paint – marks from a cane.
michael fay’s was less serious right, it was just private cars, doesn’t endanger hundreds of lives. that’s why US president was right – michael should have been given fewer, just 1 or 2 strokes, since it’s less serious.
you never know maybe in prison he gets aircon special treatment..and after two weeks stays … he maybe be send back to home….
They should have made it more….Michael Faye got 10 reduced to 8 – should have increased it instead…..So this guy should get the same for a more daring crime…Seriously, like all expats he comes here because it’s a darn good life and so he should accept the punishment when he commits a crime. Please don’t tell me that Caucasian expats are immune from the law…..
Also think SMRT brass should get the cane for lapse of security…..
No no no, a sentenced is still a sentenced that he have to go through, no short cut with the jail and caning, BUT they would probably cane him with the 5 strokes with spring onions, oso consider caning what?
I feel bad for the Swiss.
reasons:
1. without him, prolly no one including the CEO of SMRT may know there is such a big SECURITY loophole in this highly profitable organisation.
2. A security loophole like this if found out earlier by terrorists, could have done serious damage to lives of citizens passengers.
3. Many had earlier raised concerns about lack of security cameras at train waiting or track area. Several have jumped onto the tracks or fallen onto it and got killed by trains.
While broken the law, this Swiss have actually saved citizens from potential terrorist attack via the same loophole.
He deserves a commendation as well. His community service in this aspect is respectable.
I hope Swiss people are reading my comments.
Michael Fay’s acts of vandalism were done with actual malicious intent. He just wanted to damage other people’s property; keying cars, using hot tar, breaking off the logos, etc. etc.
Fricker, on the other hand, was just doing graffiti, something that people in other countries don’t even bat an eye at. It didn’t actually hurt anyone, not even SMRT, seeing that they didn’t even realise it wasn’t an ad. And in doing so he highlighted a great security flaw in our system that we now have the opportunity to patch before a more serious incident occurs.
Caning is totally unnecessary. It is cruel and it is inhumane and it does not reflect well on ALL OF US.
Malu 25 June 2010
I think we should thank him for exposing SMRT weakness in the security dept.
If pple are thanked (and rewarded?) for breaking security, will more pple try to do the same?
In extreme case, terrorists will simply join the ‘crowd’, and they can try again and again since they aren’t punished… until they succeed.
In ‘accidental’ cases, a seemingly harmless prank designed to test security could turn out to be deadly. e.g remove one wire so that some lights won’t come on, without knowing what other electronics may be affected or simply how the darkness could result in a fall that result just as easily a light bruise or break a leg.
Unless people are specifically recruited to test security, I would not want to ‘reward’ people for testing them.
Should be no caning as what he did saved hundreds of Singaporean lives.
The caning should be excluded as he exposed a very serious lapse of security, showing how easy it would has been to bomb SMRT trains.
wow this white monkey is actually a national hero for all lazy Singaporeans.
We should re-enact his and the british monkey brave attempt in showing us complacent Singapore how weak our security are…
Thank you White Swiss monkey and the britsh one too.
mas selamat who actually premeditated terrorist attacks got away with much less
Fricker pleaded guilty for the charges of vandalism and trespass but he pleaded NOT guilty to cutting the fence at the SMRT Changi Depot. The MSM reported that the DPP stood down on that last charge.
What is going on? Was there already a hole in the fence even before his break-in?
It is totally appalling to me. This kind of punishment belongs to the Dark Ages.
I am disgusted that our judiciary does not have the guts and the common sense and the compassion to see that it was just a prank.
I am disgusted that our judiciary has once again bowed to the politicians. Make no mistake, this sentence was meted out for political reasons – to assuage Singaporeans’ sense of fairness and to not be too “cruel” as to attract international condemnation.
And remember this:
DESPITE ALL THE SCREW-UPS WE HAVE SEEN, NO ONE IN AUTHORITY HAS EVEN APOLOGISED – MUCH LESS TAKE RESPONSIBILITY.
Where is the prime minister? Hiding? What a coward.
Sian of this country already.
Those who think this guy should be commended for this offence must be smoking something really good or have no clue about what’s right or wrong.
Imagine someone breaks into your house, and vandalized your home (I’ll leave out the more serious crimes for the sake of simpler analogy).
Now, are you seriously going to thank him him for this? You’re going to even give him some money for making you realize that your house can be broken into? Get real!
If his intentions were noble, he could have just inform the authorities instead of breaking in and vandalizing. His intentions were really plain and simple..he wants to vandalize and proof a twisted point to pals!!
Oliver certainly deserves the stripes for exposing the fragility of our national security.
Only problem is he will earn his 3 stripes on his A**, instead of on his shoulders :-(
instead of caning him, why don’t we just tekan him and make him wash ALL the mrt trains as punishment?
the caning video is totally gruesome… sickening!!!
yet with our warped values there are some people who will be more offended by the Malaysian guy’s “outrage to decency” by exposing his naked backsides
Some aunt get rewards for losing billions of $, he get caning for helping us expose our useless government?
This singapore is upside down @.@
Poor chap. His work is actually very nice.
Good. Justice is done in this case.
Sinkies truly believed he will be caned or if not cane hard? The Swiss govt will not allow it. Last time when Michael Faye got it. I was in Canada reading the news…. he took it like a man and shook hands with the person who wallop him with the stick after getting it. You think a Sporean can still walk after that? Hahahahaha. White man will get soft caning or maybe none.
i regard him as having performed a service of an ethical hacker doing penetration test for a company giving this company a valuable lesson and auditing its security system for free.
This Swiss should be hired as security consultant worldwide.
kudos to Swiss.
I like swiss trains. always reliable and trusted and on the dot. bar none.
Great publicity for YOG! Wonder why we have no comment again from the liaison officer of the Balkan route. Why do I even bother paying my subscription is beyond me! What use is a cat. If it only eats the mice it likes.
Sentence is too light. Let’s hope that it will not be reduced after appeal. FTs shd not be given any lighter sentence than locals. Hope he gets sodomised in prison. Bloody FTs think they can walk over us better learn from this.
He should be punished under the laws here because that was obviously illegal, but SMRT should not get away with this security breach. Neither should the Ministry of Home Affairs be so lacking in responses as well. Their lack of responsible response is worrisome to be honest.
I discussed this issue with my dad and we both agreed (miracle!) that even though the Ministry makes sense in saying that private corporations are responsible for their own security, this particular breach of a private corporation is different because it has direct impact on the lives of citizens. This is not someone breaking into, say, a computer chip company and vandalising their building which went unnoticed for 3 days. This should never have been just a private corporation issue but a public one because of the repercussions.
The Ministry should have treated this as a serious problem instead of brushing it off as a private corporation matter. They did not have to take responsibility because it really is no fault of theirs, but they should have been more proactive and started speaking with these PUBLIC PRIVATE CORPORATIONS to inform them of how serious they take these breaches because of the public nature of their business, and gave a warning or fine of sorts.
This brushing off is construed by my dad and I as the Ministry not giving a d*mn about the citizens. Once again, the responsibility is not on them to do something about it but to warn that these corporations are far more than private ones with security breaches having nothing to do with domestic security.
Both are wrong:
1. vandalism
2. Security Lapse.
For item 1, the guy is punished.
For item 2, what punishment given if necessary?
SECURITY is a management responsibility, not just the security guard.
Eg. in a military premise, is the private or lance corporal only responsible for the sentry? If there is trespass into military ground, who is not responsible?
Would the chief not be responsible?
I wonder.
The GOV won’t treat this seriously unless one of them gets bombed dead or something, public lives are insignificant.
Dan: “i hope he gets sodomised in prison”
are you so nasty by nature? or is it nuture?
did u get so vindictive when the Spore pimp who bought and sold an underage Thai girl only got 9 months?
i’m dumbfounded by your inhumanity
Anybody knows if Mas Selamat was caned?
In this smrt case, had the govt taken responsibility wholly or partially for this security lapse, it would have won public respect. To 100% push off all responsibilities is disappointing.
In the whole caning process, all we are grooming are sadist men who enjoy hurting others brutally. They enjoy seeing blood on another’s butt!!!
There is already enough violence in this world. We do not need to add to it!
An eye for an eye?
I am ashamed to be a Singaporean! Don’t tell me I should leave. I was born and bred here, served the country in National Service and given a great part of my life to the country. It is my right to stay here and see the rubbish which is going on.
I am ashamed of Singaporeans who advocate caning: caning of poor foreign workers, illegal immigrants who run away from their homes because they are persecuted and now for someone who exposed our weakness.
I do hope that the Prison wardens who enjoy caning others will commit offences and they get the same treatment.
Do not do unto others what you do not want others to do unto you!
Inspite of the security lapse, SMRT CEO will still collect her $1.57 million pay check. Why? Because they recognise her contribution of bringing in retail revenue from leasing MRT space, not in running an efficient public transport system. Safe transport system.
Cane also wrong.
Don’t cane also wrong.
So how erh?
The practice of caning is indisputably cruel and barbaric.
That we still routinely practice it for crimes as mild as vandalism and robbery and that so few Singaporeans take issue with it is a sad reflection of the state of maturity of our society – missing the forest for the trees, focusing unnecessarily on unimportant details and missing the important issues, and happily subjecting ourselves to being the helpless child sucking at the teat of the Singaporean nanny-state.
Since we as a people have the maturity of children, then we deserve a judicial system that punishes us as naughty children are punished – spanking.
Judges in Singapore implement the law, so judges will get “immunity”. High Court judges may be in a position to critique the law on a constitutional challenge of that law being illegitimate as being overly oppressive and thus contrary to the intent and spirit of constitutional freedoms and universal values of human rights—which Singapore judges have never done before and not likely to do under the administration of Lee and that Harry Lee.
Breach of security–I agree with comments that we should thank the graffiti artist for testing the security of SMRT premises–and this should be a factor in his mitigation plea in court–but judges are quite timid like most people–they are ‘normal’ Singaporeans and not likely to stick out their neck to accommodate a principle. Blog can-lah but not to lose face and job.
I am thankful to Mr. Fricker, whose actions,would have most probably saved many from grief and pain in the future. Many would have thought that after the Mas Selamat saga,those in control would have been wiser, do some reality checks and come down to earth. The breach in security by Mr. Fricker proved otherwise.
In retrospect, a short jail term or fine should suffice. Caning is torturously cruel and should only be meted out or restricted to people who commit heinous crimes. Let’s face it, this guy has done us a great favour at his own expense, on lessons of humility, arrogance and vigilance.
There is nothing inhumane abt Sgt Fricker’s (3 stripes) punishment. He knows the law and consequences of breaking it. As a guest of S’pore, pls give some respect or else, pay for yr actions. Those who cry aloud about human rights or cruelty can invite me to their house to spray paint them and thank me for it. Else shut up and let Mr Fricker pay his dues to society. A local will be punished in a similar way. If Mr Fricker had sense of mind like now, I suppose he will not leave his work of art anywhere he likes. I still think he got off lightly. For one thing, he will not be telling ppl to kiss his ass.