the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1983 and Sidney David Stanmore Cic [1992] ACTSC 79 (21 August 1992)

SUPREME COURT OF THE ACT

THE CRIMINAL INJURIES COMPENSATION ACT 1983 and SIDNEY DAVID STANMORE
C.I.C. No. 28 of 1992
Criminal Injuries Compensation

COURT

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
Master A Hogan(1)

CATCHWORDS

Criminal injuries compensation - Assault - Multiple facial injuries - No issue of principle.

HEARING

CANBERRA
21:8:1992

Counsel for the Plaintiff: J. Pappas

Instructing Solicitors: Pappas J Attorney

Counsel for Defendant: K. J. Holmes

Instructing Solicitors: Australian Government

Solicitor

ORDER

The Court orders that:

1. Compensation be awarded to the applicant in the sum of $30,348.00.

DECISION

This is an application for compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1983 in respect of injuries received by the applicant in an assault on 25 August 1991.

2. On 9 December 1991 one Craig Howard Mauger was committed for trial to this Court on charges that he recklessly inflicted grievous bodily harm upon the applicant, he assaulted the applicant thereby then occasioning to him actual bodily harm, and assaulting the applicant.

3. The applicant is a single man aged 28 years. Not long before the assault he had moved from West Wyalong to Canberra looking for work. He had gone into business in partnership with another man conducting a fruit and vegetable business. He also had work as a part-time bar manager.

4. During the evening of Saturday 24 August 1991 he went with a friend for a drink, first to the Queanbeyan Bowling Club. About midnight he and his friend travelled to the Rage Nightclub in Franklin Street Manuka. In the early hours of the morning there was an altercation in the club with two other men who were there. After a scuffle the two men were ejected from the club. When the applicant and his friend went to leave they were advised to leave by the rear door, which they did. The applicant's friend, despite the warning of the applicant, unfortunately responded to a challenge from the men who were waiting outside. He then heard his friend call for assistance. He ran to help. Two men were punching and kicking his friend. He took hold of one of them and pulled him off his friend. That person then started punching the applicant and he defended himself. He then heard somebody behind him. He was pushed over and fell to the ground. He was kicked and he lost consciousness. He remembers sitting on the back step of the police truck for a short time and then waking up in hospital talking to the police some time later.

5. He was treated initially in the Accident Emergency Centre where numerous injuries in and around the skull and face were noted. There was a laceration to the rear of the head. This was cleaned and sutured. He then came under the care of Dr Vickers, surgeon. X-rays of the skull and cervical spine showed no abnormality, but X-rays of the facial bones confirmed that his jaw was fractured. He was in great pain and was given Pethidine injections. He was unable to eat for three days.

6. On 28 August 1991 he was taken to the operating theatre where open reduction and internal fixation of his jaw and facial bones was performed. Upper and lower arch bars were fixed to the teeth and inter maxillary fixation wires for a fracture through the left angle and the right parasynthesis. Because the fracture was through the wisdom tooth socket, the wisdom tooth was removed.

7. He was kept in hospital for approximately one week and treated with intravenous antibiotics and Pethidine.

8. After he was discharged from hospital he went home to stay with his parents at West Wyalong for about a week. He then came back to work at the fruit shop because he and his partner needed the money. He was of course still not able to eat properly and the physical activity at work caused him pain. On one occasion a box hit the edge of the metal plate fixed near his eye and opened up the skin.

9. On 3 October 1991 Dr Vickers removed the inter maxillary fixation and the arch bars from the tooth.

10. Thereafter his injuries healed normally and his present state is probably stable.

11. The laceration to the rear of his head has healed, leaving a scar which is still sore and tender when touched. It stops the applicant from sleeping on his back.

12. His facial bruises were described as severe facial bruising including peri orbital haematoma, naso ethmoid haematoma, frontal orbital haematoma and bruising over the left jaw. The bruises all healed normally.

13. There was a fracture in the area of the left orbit and left zygoma which caused a depression of the left orbital floor. A plate was inserted in order to fix the depression. That is still there, and there are no plans to have it removed. The applicant finds that the muscles around his eye get lazy when he is tired. The edge of the plate becomes itchy if it is bumped. There was no resulting damage to his visual acuity.

14. The fracture through his jaw aches on cold mornings and he experiences clicks on opening his mouth wide or on chewing. He experiences pain in the jaw with hot or cold food or on hard biting.

15. His lip was split. There is now a slight outer scar which opens up from time to time, about once or twice a month. He uses lip gel all the time to stop the split from drying out. This costs about $5.00 a tube, and he uses approximately two tubes a month.

16. The upper left canine and lower left central incisor were chipped. It would cost about $300.00 to repair them. The applicant has not yet had the dental work done because he has not been able to afford it.

17. There was a laceration of the bridge of the nose which required sutures. There is a scar which is still visible to some extent, and he notices that the nose bleeds more often than it used to. He also feels that breathing through the nose is obstructed to some extent.

18. There are still a few small scars under the hairline as a result of the lacerations to the forehead.

19. Surgical removal of the wisdom teeth now causes him no problem.

20. There has been a severing of the nerve to the left jaw which results in a numbness which affects practically the lower left quarter of his face, especially his left lip. That means that he must exercise care when shaving, and he has problems when drinking, especially when trying to take hot liquids such as soup. Not only is there the physical dribbling, there is the risk of burning the lip because of the numbness.

21. As a result of the general experience he has suffered considerable anxiety. He now no longer goes out to clubs and tends to avoid crowds.

22. The fruit vending business came to an end, but the applicant does not claim that this followed as a result of the assault.

23. He has accepted the advice of his doctor to avoid contact sports. Dr Vickers commented that his injuries at the time of surgery were quite severe and were the result of quite a considerable number of forceful blows. The nerve to the jaw has been severed, resulting in permanent and total numbness through the left lip also, this will most probably be numb for the rest of his life. The fees for treatment amounted to $1,750. Removal of the internal fixation plates would cost approximately $450.00, but the applicant's present attitude is that he will avoid further contact with hospitals as much as possible.

24. The present value of the cost of purchasing the creams that he uses for his lip would be of the order of $2,000.

25. In summary, the applicant was subjected to a series of very forceful blows which resulted in multiple injuries which have left permanent results. The process of recovery would have been very painful and he will be left with some of the results of the incident for the rest of his life.

26. I think that a reasonable compensation for his pain and suffering would be the sum of $30,000. The expenses of bringing the application are agreed at $348.00. I therefore award to the applicant compensation in the sum of $30,348.