Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 13, 1994 TAG: 9404130122
SECTION: NATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DON SINGLETON NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
His son has become the focus of the American public's backlash against youth crime, and he helped put the teen in harm's way.
``He said he didn't want to plead guilty to something he didn't do,'' a shaken Fay said. ``I talked him into it.''
Since last October, when his son Michael was arrested with several others on charges of spray-painting cars in Singapore, George Fay, the 47-year-old chief executive officer of an auto parts company in Dayton, has been on a campaign to help his son escape the penalty.
As he has sought help from President Clinton and other officials, thousands of Americans have unleashed an avalanche of letters to newspapers and public figures expressing support for Singapore's tough measures against the sort of vandalism that has changed the face of many American cities.
``I really think that most of the people who say that sort of thing don't realize caning is not just a spanking,'' Fay said. ``Substitute the word `mutilation' for `caning,' and I think people's reaction would be different.''
The person sentenced is stripped and strapped down while a martial arts expert applies lashes with a half-inch-thick rattan cane. The treatment invariably draws blood and leaves scars and causes many people to lose consciousness.
The United Nations and other organizations have condemned the practice as a form of torture, Fay said.
Michael said he signed a confession to some crimes, but only after he had been held in jail for several days, beaten and threatened, Fay said.
After that, the families hired a Singaporean lawyer, who said the prosecutor had offered a deal - if Michael would plead guilty, he would be fined and deported, and thus escape the caning that accompanied a conviction on vandalism charges.
``I got a call from Mike's mom saying that he didn't want to plead guilty because of the cars - he said he didn't do it, and he knew the seriousness of it - he's never done anything like that, and he took a great deal of objection to saying he did something he didn't do.
``I said, `Let's just get you out of there with the minimum possible hassle, and this seems to be the quickest route out.' So he agreed, and this is what happened.''
Fay says he doesn't like the public's reaction to his son's fix, but he understands people's get-tough reaction to vandalism.
``I guess people are looking for quick answers to problems that have developed over 30 or 40 years,'' he said. ``But if Michael gets caned in Singapore, I doubt if the crime rate in New York or Dayton will go down.''
Fay's worst nightmare, he said, is that his son is innocent. ``And there he is, beaten into confessing, and jailed and caned for something he didn't do, and then he comes back to this country branded as a hooligan, and gets the backlash and fury of mindless people who blame him for this crime problem.''
by CNB