Application Under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1983 and Douglas Lee Crampton [1993] ACTSC 14 (25 February 1993)

SUPREME COURT OF THE ACT

APPLICATION UNDER THE CRIMINAL INJURIES COMPENSATION ACT 1983 and DOUGLAS LEE
CRAMPTON
No. CIC 77 of 1992
Number of pages - 4

COURT

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

HEARING

CANBERRA, 4 February 1993
25:2:1993

Counsel for the Plaintiff: T.V. Chadwick

Instructing Solicitors: Snedden Hall and Gallop

Counsel for Defendant: K.J. Holmes

Instructing Solicitors: Australian Government Solicitor

ORDER

1. Compensation be awarded to the applicant in the sum of $13,000.

DECISION

This is an application for compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1983.

2. On 15 October 1992 Nancy Lillian Wandin was indicted in this Court on a charge of attempting to rob the applicant while being armed with a knife. She pleaded guilty, and on 27 November 1992 was given a suspended sentence of 6 months imprisonment.

3. The applicant is a bus driver, aged about 47. He is married, with 3 teenage children.

4. At about 6.40 pm on Tuesday 21 January 1992 he was driving an Action bus in O'Connor. Wandin boarded the bus, which then proceeded to the Civic Interchange.

5. After all the other passengers had alighted, Wandin approached the applicant, presenting to him an opened pen knife in her right hand. She pointed the tip of the blade at his chest and demanded his money. He thought she was about to stab him. She said so. When she demanded the money again he attempted to disarm her by grabbing her right wrist. There was a struggle. His lower lip was cut and started to bleed. Wandin dropped the knife, left the bus and hid in a nightclub. The applicant informed a bus supervisor and the police. He identified her when she was discovered on the club premises, made a statement to the police, and went home.

6. The only physical injury that he suffered was the cut on the lip and a soft tissue injury to the left shoulder which he called a pulled muscle. Both those injuries healed normally.

7. Wandin was Aboriginal. He had not previously had any particular attitude to Aborigines, but he became suspicious and wary of them. He suffered from headaches. He was a diabetic, and for a week or so his control of diabetes was adversely affected.

8. At first he did not accept that the incident had affected him greatly. He did suffer from lack of sleep, having trouble getting to sleep and waking in the very early morning.

9. His wife, however, noticed a considerable change in him. He became withdrawn and short tempered. He gave up his athletic pursuits, and stopped sharing in the childrens' games. He started complaining of frequent headaches, and pain in the lower jaw. He made many visits to doctors, and began to take large amounts of medication.

10. A month after the assault his general practitioner, Dr Ward, found his shoulder still painful, recommended counselling and prescribed a trial of tricyclic anti-depressants. He was sleeping better when he saw Dr Ward again on 27 February 1992, and did not return for treatment.

11. However, it is clear from his wife's evidence that he was not as well as he thought he was.

12. About the middle of 1992 he consulted his dentist about the jaw pain. He had previously been treated for temporo mandibular joint dysfunction, and the stress was making the position worse. An orthodontist prescribed more occlusal splint therapy.

13. In June 1992 his solicitors sent him to Dr Saboisky for a medico legal assessment. Dr Saboisky thought he had features of post traumatic stress disorder. He did not think it needed psychological treatment, and expected it to be resolved in the next 6 to 12 months.

14. However, he did not improve. He was disturbed by the way in which the committal proceedings were conducted in October 1992. His wife found his attitude and behaviour was placing strain on their marriage. In November 1992 she gave evidence on oath about her concerns when those proceedings started before a Magistrate. He began to realise that his state was worse than he thought.

15. Dr Saboisky saw him again on 3 December 1992. He condition was not a clinical depression. However, there was significant psychological distress. Dr Saboisky recommended psychotherapy and marriage guidance counselling.

16. He and his wife began to attend Marriage Guidance, and had three interviews in December 1992 and January 1993. He thinks they have saved his marriage. It is likely that he and his wife will derive benefit from a further six to eight sessions.

17. On 18 January 1993 he was seen by Dr Tom Sutton, psychologist, at the request of his solicitors. He thought that treatment could be beneficial in the form of cognitive therapy, which would cost about $1,500. He did not think that more intensive psychotherapy was called for. Although at the hearing the applicant did not say that he intended to go back to Dr Sutton, and that he was waiting for the psychologist to get in touch with him, I think it is likely that he will accept Dr Sutton's help.

18. For his pain and suffering I would award a sum of the order of $9,000. The costs of bringing the application are $908.58. Costs of past and future treatment are $2,977.40. Bearing in mind the inexact nature of the award for pain and suffering I order compensation in the total sum of $13,000.