An Application Under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1983 Melissa Anne Bennett [1995] ACTSC 71 (13 July 1995)

SUPREME COURT OF THE ACT

AN APPLICATION UNDER THE CRIMINAL INJURIES COMPENSATION ACT 1983
MELISSA ANNE BENNETT
No. CIC35 of 1994
Number of pages - 3
Criminal Injuries Compensation

COURT

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
MASTER A. HOGAN

CATCHWORDS

Criminal Injuries Compensation - Assault - Damaged tooth - psychological distress.

HEARING

CANBERRA, 18 May 1995
13:7:1995

Counsel for the Applicant: Mr J. Gralton

Instructing Solicitors: Messrs Farrar and Gralton

Counsel for the Territory: Mr P. Walker

Instructing Solicitors: ACT Government Solicitor

ORDER

THE COURT ORDERS THAT:
1. A final award of compensation be made to the applicant in the sum of $19,514.00

DECISION

MASTER A. HOGAN This is an application for a final award of compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1983.

2. On 21 September 1994 Scott Jamie Cole was convicted on a number of charges in this Court, including assaulting the applicant, threatening to kill her, and using an offensive weapon. He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, to be suspended on a bond after serving six months.

3. The applicant is a single lady, who was a minor when the application was lodged. She turned 18 on 13 June 1995.

4. She had known Cole for about six months before the assault, and he had been her boyfriend for about six weeks. She had terminated the relationship, after which he began a campaign of harassment against her.

5. On 30 October 1993 at about 10.30 p.m. she was at home with some friends when Cole and a woman named Maria King entered the house. Cole told King to hit the applicant, which she did, with a closed fist to the face. The applicant tried to ring for help, but he ripped the phone cord from the wall. She ran next door to a friend's home. He followed her there, and began throwing knives at her. Holding a knife in one hand at her throat, he held her hair with the other, and threatened to kill her. He also threatened to rape her. Cole and King eventually left. She went to her sister's home and contacted the police.

6. On 4 November she saw her general medical practitioner, Dr Hain, complaining of a loose left front tooth, a painful left shoulder and an abrasion to the right achilles tendon. He advised her to see a dentist about the tooth. He noted an abrasion over the right achilles tendon.

7. The next day she was examined by Dr Czoban, police medical officer. On examination he found a slightly loose left upper first tooth, a small healing wound on the scalp, tenderness of the muscles at the back of the left shoulder, and the healing scratch at the back of the left heel.

8. She was extremely upset emotionally. She became afraid to go out alone, and to experience nightmares.

9. On 18 January 1994 Mr Noel Egan, dentist, examined her teeth. He found the upper left central tooth discoloured and slightly extruded. The tooth next to it was normal. Mr Egan advised treatment by an endodontist.

10. Mr Taylor, endodontist, saw her first on 18 February 1994. He noted the displacement and discolouration of the front tooth, but it appeared to him to be probably still vital. Rather than immediate treatment he recommended continuing review.

11. Her solicitors sought an opinion from Dr Glaser, consultant psychiatrist, who saw her on 31 January 1994.

12. She was taking Valium, prescribed by her general practitioner. She presented to Dr Glaser as a "somewhat distressed teenager who appeared to be quite bewildered and anxious, and who gave a mildly disorganised account of her difficulties." He diagnosed post traumatic stress disorder, and suggested counselling.

13. She made arrangements to consult Dr Tym, consultant psychiatrist, who saw her on seven occasions, between July 1994 and March 1995. When he first saw her she presented with an abnormal depressed and anxious mood and other abnormal emotional phenomena. He prescribed a safe medication regime and arranged for her to be seen by the Community Advocate. More suitable housing was arranged, and she embarked on a computer course. Her attendance on Dr Tym and her taking of medication was somewhat erratic, partly because, it seems, she could not prevent Cole from contacting her.

14. In March 1995 Dr Tym concluded that she did not have a psychiatric illness, nor did she meet the diagnostic criteria for post traumatic stress disorder. She had, however, been subject to considerable and continuing psychological stress.

15. In September 1994 Mr Taylor thought her tooth could have deteriorated, but deferred any decision on treatment. He eventually carried out root canal therapy over two sessions and bleached the tooth. He thought the prognosis was good, and referred her back to Mr Egan to fix the cracked crown. He expected that further endodontic treatment might well be needed after some decades.

16. Mr Egan sealed the crown, and saw no need for further treatment by a dentist.

17. One of the terms of the bond on which Cole was to be released was that he pay compensation to the Court of $2,800 within 18 months, and that compensation was to be paid out to victims. The certificate of conviction does not specify how much of that sum is to be paid to this applicant, if Cole ever does comply with that term. But I do not regard her chances of recovering any substantial sum from that source as being sufficiently great to affect this award.

18. Taking into account the likelihood of further expense, which of course must be discounted because it is to be paid out many years in the future, I would award compensation for her pain and suffering in the sum of $20,000.

19. Her treatment expenses totalled $1,139. The costs of bringing the application are $1,375.

20. The total award is therefore a sum of $22,514.

21. On 4 November 1994 I made an interim award of $3,000. I therefore now make a final award of $19,514.