( dpa )- A prison inmate caned three strokes more than his sentence specified is seeking compensation in a Singapore court, news reports said Friday.
The move by Dickson Tan, 20, and his lawyers follows failed mediation talks with the attorney-general's chambers on the amount he should receive, The Straits Times said.
Tan's family indicated they would settle for 300,000 Singapore dollars (209,000 US dollars), but the government would not agree to the sum.
Joseph Chen, the family's lawyer, said it was "not feasible" to accept the undisclosed offer made by the attorney general's chambers.
Tan was sentenced in February 2007 to nine months in jail and five lashes of the cane for offences involving abetting an illegal moneylender in harassing a debtor. In March, he was caned eight times by mistake.
The government acknowledged the error and expressed regret.
Three rounds of mediation sessions failed to reach an agreement on the amount of compensation.
"There are no precedents for this," Chen was quoted as saying. "What we want is for the courts to decide whether this is just a personal-injury claim or that the amount should reflect how the court views the issue."
Chen told the newspaper that a court hearing will provide an "opportunity to introduce case law references, not just from the UK but from the American courts as well."