52078 (14 November 2023)

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: 52078

Date of incident: [ ]

Date of application: [ ]

Decision outcome: The applicant is awarded the sum of €1,569.81 under the Scheme.

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 Secretariat on [ ], the applicant stated that he had suffered injuries on [ ] when he had been set upon by a number of unknown assailants. He was knocked unconscious and woke in hospital. The applicant suffered a broken jaw and the applicant notes that later he developed psychological issues which required counselling. A garda report is on file which corroborates the facts of the incident itself.

3. 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 shortly after it occurred thereby meeting the requirement of Para 22 of the Scheme that the matter be reported without delay. The application was not made within three months of the incident, so as to meet the requirement of Para 20 (formerly Para 21) of the Scheme. However the trauma of the incident is apparent from the application form, in which the applicant specifies that he suffered from nightmares. Given the nature of the injuries and the short delay in making the application, I am satisfied that this case warrants the extraordinary treatment of allowing it to proceed outside the normal timeframe.

5. Accordingly, I admit the application for consideration under the Scheme.

6. It is worth setting out first what the Tribunal is, and is not, entitled to do under the terms of the Scheme. 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, where adequate evidence of their cost has been provided. 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.

7. The applicant supplied medical records contemporaneous to the garda report which state the nature of the injuries he sustained. He supplied prescription forms, one which evidenced a spend of €32.94, albeit it is very faded and the particular medicine cannot be made out. The second is in the sum of €19.48 and is similarly faded. However these were supplied at the time of the application, which was made soon

8. The applicant gave a receipt for a GP attendance on [ ] in the sum of €40. This is described as a ‘review consultation’ and is within the timeframe of a normal review for injuries sustained by the applicant as a result of this incident. A dental receipt for €60 on [ ] is also on file. It is unclear whether this was the date of treatment or the payment date, and indeed what the treatment was. However, given the damage to the jaw evidenced by the hospital record, this receipt is more likely than not connected causally to the injury in question.

9. The applicant has also submitted a receipt for counselling which he received in [ ] in the sum of stg £1085. Albeit this was seven years after the incident in question, the applicant explained in correspondence that since the incident he had experienced depression and anxiety, culminating in a panic attack while living in [ ]. He stated that he learned from this counselling that he had developed PTSD which he said came as something of a relief as it explained his nightmares, mood swings and lack of confidence. He said that the counselling assisted him greatly.

10. Normally a psychiatric injury in the form of PTSD requires diagnosis by a psychiatrist to be properly evidenced. However in this case one does not have to accept the formal diagnosis of PTSD to consider that the trauma of being violently assaulted is likely to have an impact, and to accept the applicant’s statement that counselling assisted in dealing with the trauma he experienced. It is noted that the applicant stated on his application form that a consequence of the incident was that he suffered nightmares. In the circumstances I am willing to accept the cost of counselling received as properly linked to a cost of treatment for the injuries arising out of the incident in question. The converted euro sum is €1,247.19 at time of writing.

11. On his application form the applicant also states that he was required to make three trips to [ ] as a result of the incident (one the [ ] Hospital and two to the [ ] hospital). The total mileage claimed was 368km. This travel appears reasonable to the Tribunal and it is assessed at €170.20 (applying a mid-range civil service band for the appropriate period of 46.25c per km).

12. The Tribunal therefore makes and award in the sum of €1,569.81 in compensation for the criminally inflicted injuries sustained by the applicant on [ ].

Tricia Sheehy Skeffington

Member, Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal

14 November 2023