24035 (10 May 2023)
- Published on: 10 May 2023
- Last updated on: 5 February 2025
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal
In the matter of an application under the Scheme of Compensation for Personal Injuries Criminally Inflicted
Decision of a Single Member
Name of applicant: [ ]
Application number: 24035
Date of incident: [ ]
Date of application: [ ]
Decision outcome: The applicant is awarded the sum of €220 under the Scheme.
Facts/brief background
1. [ ] (‘the applicant’) has made a claim for compensation under the Scheme of Compensation for Personal Injuries Criminally Inflicted (‘the Scheme’).
2. In his application for compensation under the Scheme, received by the Tribunal Secretariat on [ ], the applicant stated that on [ ] he had suffered injuries outside his place of work in [ ], when his assailant called him out to accuse him of dating his girlfriend. He said that when he turned around to go back into work his assailant hit him, knocked him to the ground and kicked him. He said that his arm was badly bruised and he required [ ] stitches to his [ ] and that he had violent headaches in the aftermath of the assault.
Eligibility under the scheme
3. From the foregoing, and the Garda report which states that the matter was reported to them in the same terms contemporaneously, I am satisfied that the applicant has established, on the balance of probabilities, that he was a victim of a crime of violence and sustained personal injury which is directly attributable to that crime of violence.
4. The incident was reported to the Gardaí on the same day as the incident thereby meeting the requirement of Para 22 of the Scheme that the matter be reported without delay. Further, the application was made within three months of the incident, meeting the requirements of Para 20 of the Scheme.
5. Accordingly, I admit the application for consideration under the Scheme.
Details of claim
6. The Tribunal may make awards of compensation for expenses that are incurred as a consequence of the injury sustained by a crime of violence. This might cover the cost of treatment or loss of earnings. However the Scheme does not allow the Tribunal to make any award for general pain and suffering caused by the injury: Para 6(e) of the Scheme. Nonetheless the Tribunal must acknowledge the distress that is inevitably with a violent attack, and express its sympathy to the applicant for having had to endure the attack. It is important to note that while the Tribunal is empowered to award compensation for expenses associated with psychiatric injuries, it must of course have evidence of such injuries before such an award can be made.
7. The applicant made no claim for loss of earnings, but submitted the following items by way of medical expenses:
| Item | Discussion | Sum allowed |
| 4 x prescription claim form for €42.78 for Prozac capsules, dated [ ] and [ ] | Prozac is a drug to treat anxiety and depression. There is no letter or report from any medical practitioner explaining why the applicant required Prozac, and indeed whether this need was linked to the incident in question or not. | €0 |
| 2x Undated taxi receipt in the sum of €40 from [ ] Hospital | [ ] hospital was the location of treatment, these receipts are likely to be for such treatment | €80 |
| GP receipts [ ] and [ ] in sum of €40, €40, €20 and €40 | Within time range of the injuries persisting, likely to be connected to treatment for injuries | €140 |
| GP receipt [ ] in the sum of €40 | It is not clear from the papers that the injuries subject of the application persisted at the time of this appointment. | €0 |
8. On the papers there is very little detail setting out what the treatment for the applicant’s injuries were. This leaves the Tribunal in a difficult position to assess the probability that any particular expenses were required. As such, the only sensible metric that can be applied is to link GPs appointments to time and the taxi receipts to the destination, being [ ] hospital.
Award
9. The Tribunal awards the sum of €220 in compensation for the criminally inflicted injuries sustained by the applicant on [ ].
Tricia Sheehy Skeffington
Member, Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal
10 May 2023