Singapore to jail, cane two Germans for vandalism

Two German men were sentenced on Thursday to nine months in jail and three strokes of the cane in Singapore for vandalism and trespassing.

Andreas Von Knorre, 22, and Elton Hinz, 21, were charged with entering Bishan Singapore Mass Rapid Transit (SMRT) station without authorisation three times in the wee hours of November 6, 7 and 8 in 2014, The Straits Times reported.

On November 8, they used paint to spray graffiti on an SMRT train at the depot.

On Wednesday, the two men pleaded guilty to two charges of entering the station on November 7 and 8, and spraying graffiti on the train carriage.

The pair, who were working in Australia, had arrived in Singapore on November 4 and stayed at a hotel in Geylang. That day, they bought 12 cans of spray paint from Art Friend in Clementi.

SMRT suffered damages of about S$13,650 ($9,978).

The two men are believed to have left the country after that.

Malaysia police arrested the pair at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on November 20 and they were extradited to Singapore the next day.

The maximum penalty for vandalism is a fine of S$2,000 or three years' jail plus three to eight strokes of the cane.

If convicted of entering a protected place, they could be fined up to S$1,000 and/or jailed for up to two years on each charge.