OleoCookie

A Singapore man is suing the government for around S$3 million in damages for mistakenly caning him three more strokes than he was sentenced to, court documents showed on Thursday.

Dickson Tan, 21, who was jailed for nine months and sentenced to five strokes of the cane last year for helping an illegal moneylender, was beaten eight times instead as a result of an administrative error.

Caning on the buttocks is an additional punishment for male criminals in Singapore for offences ranging from vandalism to illegal possession of drugs and rape.

It is administered by select prison officers who use a water-soaked ratan cane to beat the offender, who is strapped to a triangular trellis.

According to court documents filed by the plaintiff on Wednesday, Tan attempted to point out the error before his caning on March 29 last year, but was told that the "records in the file could not be wrong".

Tan is suing the government for negligence and is hoping to claim between S$1.7 million and S$3 million in total damages, his lawyer Joseph Chen told Reuters.

He said Tan had received S$8,000 in the form of an "interim payment", a non-liability payment meant to help indigent plaintiffs.

"This was a failure in the administration of justice," Chen said.

Singapore's attorney-general chambers and the ministry for home affairs could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts on Thursday evening.

Tan, who is unemployed, told Reuters that he decided to sue the government after three unsuccessful rounds of mediation. Tan suffered from depression and post traumatic stress disorder after the beating, a psychiatric report showed.

"I want just compensation, they must be responsible," he said.

This is the second time the Singapore government has been sued for meting out the wrong number of strokes. In 1991, it was sued by a man who was caned 48 times instead of his sentenced 24 strokes, media reports said.

He was given undisclosed compensation without the case going to court.

The Southeast Asian city-state's Law Minister S. Jayakumar told lawmakers in July last year that this "kind of clerical mistake is an extremely rare occurrence". (Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Jan Dahinten and David Fox)

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That has a Typo Error

g2gcya

wth is wrong the sg government?can ppl wrongly and they want to deny like tat,cant be bothered de

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Bry_n

thats so typical of our goverment system..they owaz think they r right..and even when they knw its their mistake..they wont dare to admit it..cowards !

g2gcya

no choice

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hanz0my

GG'd

yunise

smart ass.. good luck!

=D

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SupahStrider

" it was sued by a man who was caned 48 times instead of his sentenced 24 strokes, media reports said."

2 times more!omg! i wonder how did the gov repaid that guy.

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frinky

Government can afford to pay fines 1 lo.. They are so wealthy.. so to them, it's nothing..
But pity the guy who genna caned extras..

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OleoCookie

i think the one who tio 24strokes extra one damn sad..

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That has a Typo Error

stevewonder

Nowadays something gone wrong, minister go into hiding. Not good leadership example.

haruX

wa the 24stroke one... doubled!

deardear85

why tat guy never complain when they gg to start caning the 6th stroke sia? or mayb he noe cane xtra will haf money to get?

stinky_shawn

in prison u wana complain?.... outside u complain also no use u think inside complain got any use?

haunted2

good lol show them they are not always right

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AudiA6

Actually it would be interesting to follow this case slowly. Remember, now, for the first time, we are looking at the Government being SUED, and based on what is reported, there is a high possiblity that the Government will LOSE this case.

It will be worth your time to see HOW they react to this.

Would they:

1) Admit to their error and face the consequences?
2) Change the law/policies DURING the court process? (to cover their asses)
3) Dig out irrelavant history of the 21 year old man to side track the main issue? (Please remember the NKF issue. That was one good side track attack if you ask me. LOL)
4) Downplay the seriousness of this issue?

What would they do?

Stay tuned.....

Humans: Ugly Bags of Mostly Water

carr0ts

think at most they would say "yah its our fault; but there will be no compensation.Its a very rare error which have occured."

and tats the last thing which they have comment on the error.

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AudiA6

I guess what you are trying to say is:

"Oh, we REGRET (please note that they are NOT SORRY, they just REGRET) that you have been caned more times then awarded to you. However, what is done cannot be undone. We will learn from this error and make sure that this will never happen again. We thank you for your feedback"

Humans: Ugly Bags of Mostly Water

deardear85

think the court typist sure will be fired for making this error. the govt money = tax payers' money? in the end, we the one who paid for it.

jencrs

Did the govt deny/won't dare to admit? Read the last line in the report.
There's already the admission of error. Which is why they entered into mediation in the first place, and why the plantiff was given an interim payment.