Singapore:
A Singapore judge rejected an appeal by a Swiss graffiti vandal to reduce his five-month jail term and instead added two months to the sentence on Wednesday.
Justice V K Rajah ruled that Oliver Fricker's initial sentence of two months for trespassing was insufficient and doubled it. He must now serve seven months in total.
Fricker had argued in his appeal that he should serve a three-month sentence for vandalism at the same time as the trespassing sentence, rather than as consecutive terms. Rajah rejected the argument of Fricker's lawyer Derek Kang that the sentence was ''crushing and disproportionate.''
The 32-year-old Fricker also faces three strokes of a cane for breaking into a train depot with an accomplice and painting graffiti on two subway carriages on May 16. Authorities had postponed the caning until the appeal was decided.
''Their conduct was nothing short of audacious and intemperate,'' Rajah said. ''This was a stunt that was plainly designed to attract international notoriety to a pair of irresponsible, attention-seeking individuals.''
During the appeals trial, prosecutors revealed that Fricker was convicted of property damage in Switzerland in 2001, evidence that Rajah ruled was relevant and material. Kang said during the initial trial that Fricker was a first-time offender.
Fricker, an information technology consultant who had worked in Singapore since 2008, had pleaded guilty to committing the crimes with Lloyd Dane Alexander, a British national based in Hong Kong. Police have issued an arrest warrant for Alexander, 29, and prosecutors said he has fled to Hong Kong.
Fricker and Alexander cut through a security fence and caused about 11,000 Singapore dollars ($8,117) of damage by painting on a train car ''McKoy Banos,'' a slogan that has appeared in graffiti throughout the world.
''It was perversely intended to make and leave a sensational indelible mark on the general public's consciousness,'' Rajah said.
Singapore boasts one of the lowest violent crime rates and highest standards of living in the world, but human rights groups often criticize the government for excessive punishments, such as hanging drug couriers. Singapore also reiterated a ban on the sale of chewing gum and announced a crackdown on littering this year.
Singapore caned American teenager Michael Fay 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.
Fay, who was 18 at the time, was sentenced to six cane strokes and four months in jail.
''The laws of Singapore proscribing vandalism are indeed severe,'' Rajah said. ''However, needless to say, these are the very laws that are largely responsible for a clean and graffiti-free environment.''