Re An Application Under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1983 and Mj [1996] ACTSC 44 (23 May 1996)

SUPREME COURT OF THE ACT

IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION UNDER THE CRIMINAL INJURIES COMPENSATION ACT
1983
AND MJ
No. CIC279 of 1994
Number of pages - 2

COURT

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY
MASTER T. CONNOLLY

HEARING

CANBERRA, 16 May 1996
23:5:1996

Counsel for the Applicant: Mr G. Kennealy

Instructing Solicitors: Abbott Tout Harper Blain

Counsel for the Respondent: Mr K. Holmes

Instructing Solicitors: ACT Government Solicitor

ORDER

THE COURT ORDERS THAT:
1. Compensation be awarded to the applicant in the sum of $26,194.00.
2. The publication of any particulars likely to lead to the identification of the applicant or the assailant is prohibited.

DECISION

MASTER T. CONNOLLY his is an application for an award of compensation under the terms of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 1983. It relates to a sexual assault which took place on the female applicant on 1 January 1994. This is a matter where it is appropriate that the name of the applicant not be divulged in the reasons for decision.

2. The applicant, who was 19 at the time of the assault, was attending a New Years Eve party at a home in Wanniassa. She was and remains a resident of Wollongong, but had come to Canberra with a friend to attend this party, which was organised through a personal development self help group with which she had become involved.

3. The applicant drank cocktails at the party, and describes herself as "fairly drunk" by midnight. She spoke with the owner of the house, and was directed to a bedroom where she was told she could sleep. She went to the bedroom, closed the door, and went to sleep.

4. Approximately half an hour later she awoke to find a male person lying on top of her and sexually assaulting her. She fled through the window of the bedroom, and later reported the matter to police.

5. The assailant was arrested, charged and convicted in the Supreme Court of the ACT in respect of this sexual assault. It is thus a matter which appropriately comes before me in respect of an application for criminal injuries compensation. The applicant has tendered medical reports dated August 1994 and November 1995 which establish that this assault has had a genuine and significant impact on this young woman, which is continuing.

6. I was informed at the hearing of this application that the Australian Capital Territory Government Solicitor had entered into discussions with the solicitors for the applicant which had resulted in an agreed suggested amount of compensation in this matter of $25,000 for pain and suffering and sums for associated costs. This seems to me to be an appropriate sum given the circumstances of this case, which are serious, but short of exacerbating factors which may lead to awards of or close to the maximum in other sexual assault cases. I commend the parties for being able to resolve this matter without the need to put the applicant through what would no doubt be a further trauma of giving evidence and re living this matter, although of course this is not to say that there will not be cases where this course is inevitable and proper.

7. In this matter I award compensation in the sum of $26,194.00 being made up of $25,000 pursuant to Section 6(1)(c) of the Act as compensation for pain and suffering, $426.00 pursuant to Section 6(1)(a) of the Act for treatment expenses, and $768 pursuant to Section 5(4) of the Act for expenses other than legal fees in bringing the application .

8. The sum of $26,194.00 is an appropriate award. This can never take away the impact of this crime on the applicant, but it is an appropriate recognition of the extent to which the community, which provides the payment, views victims of sexual assault as deserving of support.