Checks and balances in place to ensure it does not happen again, says DPM.

Jul 4, 2007
AsiaOne

The Singapore government takes the error, which led to a prisoner being wrongly caned three more strokes, "seriously" and has put in place checks and balances to ensure that it will not happen again, Deputy Prime Minister and Law Minister S. Jayakumar has said.

Commenting on the case of Dickson Tan Yong Wen, 20 who was given eight strokes of the cane in prison, instead of the five he was sentenced to, Prof Jayakumar told reporters after a tour of the Singapore Civil Defence Force's training facilities in Jalan Bahar yesterday: "Because we attach a great deal of importance to the hard-won reputation of our judicial and legal system, any such event must be taken seriously.

"And the courts and other authorities have put in checks and balances to make sure it does not happen again."

Prof Jayakumar said when the mistake was discovered, officials at the Attorney-General's Chambers went to apologise to Tan and his family.

Mediation efforts on compensation are underway and "let that take its course," said the minister.

Asked if the government was willing to settle for $300,000, the reported sum that the family had counter-offered from an initial $150,000 sought, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Law told AsiaOne last night: "We have not heard from Mr Dickson Tan's lawyers on any revised amount.

"The case has been referred for mediation. As such, we have no further comments on the issue."

A report in The Straits Times today said that mediation efforts over the compensation have failed and the matter is likely to go to court.

On Feb 28, Dickson Tan Yong Wen, 20, was sentenced to a total of nine months in jail and five strokes of the cane for two offences involving abetting an illegal moneylender to harass a debtor. But a court clerk added three more strokes to the punishment when he was preparing the paperwork for Tan’s commitment to prison. The clerk has since resigned.

According to a joint statement issued by the ministries of Law and Home Affairs last weekend, 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: on March 1 when he was being interviewed by a prison officer during admission to Admiralty West Prison; on March 29 when he acknowledged on an official document that the eight strokes to be meted out to him was correct; and shortly before his caning, when he confirmed to prison officers and a medical officer that the number of strokes was correct.

But Tan’s mother, Madam Ho Gee Lin, 52, contradicted the statement and said that her son had alerted two prison officers to the error prior to the caning.

The housewife said the officers had dismissed her son’s protests and he decided to drop the matter because he was afraid of being punished for insubordination.

Madam Ho said she had initially asked for $150,000 in compensation but raised it to $300,000 because she felt that the authorities were not taking her complaint seriously.

She said her lawyer, Mr Joseph Chen, then advised her to seek $3 million in compensation based on legal principles in the United States and Britain where the courts award punitive damages.

Tan is now on home detention until next month.

In a similar case, the family of a convicted armed robber who received 48 strokes of the rotan, is suing the government.

Qwek Kee Chong, 26, pleaded guilty to gang robbery and was jailed 10 years. He was also ordered to be given 12 strokes of the cane for each of the four counts on Nov 31, 1987 - making a total of 48 strokes.

The legal limit is 24 strokes for an adult sentenced at any one trial, under the Criminal Procedure Code.

Qwek was given 48 strokes of the cane on his buttocks on a single day on April 8, 1988. He is now serving time at Changi Prison.

His family has engaged lawyer Peter Fernando to act for Qwek, who is suing for damages and costs for the alleged "grievous injury to his buttocks". The sum of damages has not been specified.

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