She had asked for $3 million, which was to include punitive damages, but now only wants enough for her son. The mother says her son, who was sentenced to five strokes of the cane but wrongly given eight, found out about the mistake on the day he entered prison and told his family about it

Jul 1, 2007
AsiaOne

The family of a prisoner who was given 3 extra strokes is willing to settle for $300,000 instead of the $3 million she has earlier demanded for the error the government has admitted.

“The $300,000 is all I really want to take care of my son,” Madam Ho Gee Lin, 52, told The New Paper on Sunday.

She has initially asked for $150,000 in compensation but raised it to $3 million to include punitive damages, after consultation with her lawyer, Mr Chen Kok Siang.

Madam Ho’s son Dickson Tan Yong Wen, 20, was given eight strokes of the cane in prison after he pleaded guilty to abetting an illegal moneylender to harass a debtor. He was sentenced to a total of nine months in jail and five strokes of the can for the two offences.

But a court clerk wrongly recorded the sentence and added three more strokes to the punishment when he was preparing the paperwork for Tan’s commitment to prison.

The government last night said it regrets the error, and is ready and willing to settle the matter. However, it rejected the $3 million sum asked by the prisoner’s family.

In a joint statement, the Ministry of Law and Ministry of Home Affairs, said that steps have been taken to ensure the mistake will not happen again.

The caning was carried out on March 29 and the authorities said prisons officers observed all procedures relating to the administration of the caning, including verifying with Tan that the number of strokes of caning was correct.

The statement said that Tan did not object to the number of strokes he would be receiving on three separate occasions.

When contacted by the media yesterday, Madam Ho, a housewife, stood by her version that her son had alerted the prison authorities to the error through various channels.

She said her son had found out about the mistake on the day he entered prison, and had told his family about it. Despite various attempts to correct the mistake, Tan still received eight strokes on March 29.

“When I first found out the mistake, I was so scared, I couldn’t sleep,” Madam Ho told The New Paper on Sunday.

“For two weeks, we didn’t know who to look for, we hoped the caning would be postponed or the mistake corrected, but we weren’t told the outcome. But the time we knew, he had already been caned.”

She said the prison officers had dismissed her son’s protests and he decided not to push the matter because he feared being punished further for insubordination.

“My son is prepared to go for a lie detector test,” she was quoted by The Sunday Times.

On the compensation, Madam Ho said that before she engaged a lawyer, she had written to the Prisons Department and Admiralty West Prison, where her son was caned, to ask for $150,000.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers on June 4 offered her a lower amount, which she rejected.

She then engaged a lawyer, Mr Chen, and raised their compensation demand to $300,000 when they discovered there were “aggravating factors.” On top of this, Mr Chen said the family is asking for $3 million if the government does not offer a settlement and the case goes to court.

The case was referred for mediation – but the family did not go forward with it, partly because they were told they had to pay $2,000 in fees, which the family could not afford.

Tan was released from prison on May 17 and is serving out the rest of his sentence on home detention until August.

Madam Ho said her son has not been the same since the caning. She said he was more active and talkative before, but is now quiet and withdrawn.

This is not the first such incident.

In 1988, a 23-year-old convicted armed robber was given 48 strokes of the cane - twice the legal maximum allowed for an adult at a single trial.

The TNP on Sunday said Qwek Kee Chong, now 26, who is serving time at Changi Prison, is suing for damages and costs for the alleged “grievous injury” to his buttocks.

Qwek’s family lawyer, Mr Peter Fernando, confirmed yesterday that he is acting for Qwek, who was jailed 10 years, and ordered to be given four counts on Nov 31, 197, making a total of 48 strokes. The legal limit is 24 strokes for an adult sentenced at any one trial.

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