Oct 21, 2010
American overstayer faces caning
By Khushwant Singh
US EMBASSY MONITORING CASE
The case has caught the attention of US officials. 'The US Embassy is closely monitoring the case and embassy officials have provided consular assistance to this individual, including six visits by consular officials,' a spokesman for the mission told AFP.
If caned Kamari would be the first American to undergo the punishment in Singapore since the widely-publicised case of Michael Fay, an American teenager who was given four strokes of the cane in 1994 for vandalism. -- AFP
AN AMERICAN, who accompanied his wife to Singapore last December for fertility treatment, and overstayed, could be the first US citizen to be caned in 16 years. After his three-month social visit pass expired on March 15, Kamari Kenyada Charlton, 37, is believed to have remained in Singapore for an extra 169 days, which is nearly half a year, without permission from the immigration authorities.
Under the law, overstaying for more than 90 days is punished by a jail term of up to six months and a minimum three strokes of the cane. Charlton, who was born in the Bahamas, was arrested at Changi Airport on Sept 1 as he was about to leave the country, his lawyer M. Ravi said at a press conference on Thursday.
The lawyer added that the Attorney-General's Chambers had rejected a request to consider compounding the offence and imposing a fine as was the case of several overstayers including a Croatian cousin of Charlton's wife, who had overstayed for 194 days and was allowed to leave after paying a composition fine of $500.
Mr Ravi is planning to take the case to the High Court on grounds of discrimination. Charlton, who now runs a construction business in the Bahamas, is being remanded while his wife, who has both Australian and British citizenship, is back in the Bahamas and expecting a baby girl.
If caned, he would be the first American to be punished this way in Singapore since the widely-publicised case of the then 18-year-old American teenager Michael Fay, who was sentenced to four months in jail and four strokes of the cane in 1994 for vandalism, despite appeals for leniency by then US President Bill Clinton. Charlton will appear in court on Friday for his lawyer to make arrangements for the trial.