Foilsiú
51460 (24 June 2022)
Ó Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme
Foilsithe
An t-eolas is déanaí
Teanga: Níl leagan Gaeilge den mhír seo ar fáil.
Ó Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme
Foilsithe
An t-eolas is déanaí
Teanga: Níl leagan Gaeilge den mhír seo ar fáil.
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: 51460
Date of incident: [ ]
Date of application: [ ]
Decision outcome: No claim under the terms of the Scheme has been brought.
1. [ ] (‘the applicant’) has made a claim for compensation under the Scheme of Compensation for Personal Injuries Criminally Inflicted (‘the Scheme’).
2. In her application for compensation under the Scheme, received by the Tribunal on [ ] the applicant stated that she had suffered injuries when two people attempted to steal her handbag. She suffered cuts to her hand and had a substance sprayed in her face.
3. While the garda reports support the applicant’s account of the assault she sustained, no medical expenses arising nor loss of earnings are claimed. Indeed the only claim is for repair to a van door which was damaged in the course of the incident.
4. The Scheme provides at paragraph 1 that it pays compensation in respect of personal injury where the personal injury is directly attributable to a crime of violence. The Tribunal is not empowered to award compensation for loss or damage to property linked with that crime of violence. Further, paragraph 6(e) of the Scheme precludes the Tribunal from awarding compensation for pain and suffering. As such in the absence of any claim for any specific expenses associated with the personal injury arising out of a crime of violence, no compensation can be paid.
5. On [ ] the Tribunal Secretariat sought that the applicant supply vouching documentation for any loss of earnings, medical or dental costs, and travel expenses. It also sought that she supply a statement from the Department of Social Protection. In response to this the applicant, through her solicitor, on [ ] supplied the Tribunal Secretariat with a receipt for repair to a van.. On [ ] the applicant’s solicitor appears to again have enclosed this receipt, stating that it is ‘the full extend (sic) of her material losses’.
6. On [ ] the Tribunal Secretariat wrote to the applicant’s solicitor pointing out that the Tribunal was precluded from making awards for general damages, and that there were no terms in the Scheme to cover loss or damage to property. A similar letter had issued from it on [ ].
7. On [ ] the Tribunal Secretariat emailed the applicant’s solicitor stating that it had had no contact since the [ ], and enquiring if the applicant wished to pursue her application. No response to that letter is on file.
8. Paragraph 10 of the Scheme reads:
“No compensation will be payable to an applicant who has not, in the opinion of the Tribunal, given the Tribunal all reasonable assistance, in relation to any medical report that it may require, and otherwise.”
Thus Under Para 10 of the Scheme the applicant must give the Tribunal all reasonable assistance if she is to be eligible for compensation under the Scheme. The rationale of this rule appears to be that the Tribunal needs information upon which it can make its decision as to the appropriate amount of compensation to award. That information must come either directly or indirectly from the applicant.
9. In this case it appears that the applicant either suffered no material losses which are recoverable under the Scheme, or that if she did she has not supplied the Tribunal with the information upon which it could make a decision (which would amount to a failure to provide reasonable assistance). Either way, there is no claim stated, and no evidence upon which, the Tribunal is capable of making an award for compensation that falls under the Scheme.
Tricia Sheehy Skeffington
Member, Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal
24 June 2022