Victims of crime compensation, (Australia)?
OK, I was just outside the doors of a pub, and some dude through beer glasses at me until he got me, it all came out of the blue, as in I didnt start anything, didnt even make eye contact with this dude. Anyway he got me in the head, missed my eye by an inch, 4 days in hospital, surgery and so on. I think the cops are going to get him, (they're trying to anyway). Some people have told me I should claim victims of crime compo.
Is it worth going through the whole process?
Does anyone know what I may be entitled to?
Answers:
Did you ever think that it might help if you told us what state you're in? Did you realise laws differ in each state?
If you're in Qld, you can only claim compensation if the offender was convicted on indictment of an offence which included the injuries to you. Most charges are not made "on indictment" so you would be screwed - you would also be screwed if the guy was found guilty but no conviction was recorded. If, however, he was "convicted on indictment" you would be entitled to the following range of payments (each payment is expressed as a percentage of $75,000 - from the Criminal Offence Victims Act 1995):
Injury Percentage of
scheme maximum
1 Bruising/laceration etc. (minor/moderate). . . . 1%–3%
2 Bruising/laceration etc. (severe) . . . . . . . . . . . 3%–5%
3 Fractured nose (no displacement) . . . . . . . . . . 5%–8%
4 Fractured nose (displacement/surgery) . . . . . . 8%–20%
5 Loss or damage of teeth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1%–12%
6 Facial fracture (minor). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8%–14%
7 Facial fracture (moderate) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14%–20%
8 Facial fracture (severe) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20%–30%
9 Fractured skull/head injury (no brain damage) 5%–15%
10 Fractured skull (brain damage—minor/moderate)
10%–25%
11 Fractured skull (brain damage—severe) . . . . . 25%–100%
12 Fractured collarbone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7%–15%
13 Fracture/loss of use of shoulder. . . . . . . . . . . . 8%–23%
14 Fracture/loss of use of hip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8%–23%
15 Fracture/loss of use of arm/wrist (minor) . . . . 4%–10%
16 Fracture/loss of use of arm/wrist (displaced and
immobilised) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8%–30%
17 Fracture/loss of use of finger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2%–8%
18 Fracture/loss of use of toe/foot (minor/moderate)
2%–5%
19 Fracture/loss of use of leg/ankle (minor/moderate)
4%–10%
20 Fracture/loss of use of leg/ankle (severe) . . . . 8%–25%
21 Neck/back/chest injury (minor) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2%–7%
22 Neck/back/chest injury (moderate) . . . . . . . . . 5%–10%
23 Neck/back/chest injury (severe) . . . . . . . . . . . 8%–40%
24 Gun shot/stab wounds (minor) . . . . . . . . . . . . 6%–10%
25 Gun shot/stab wounds (moderate) . . . . . . . . . . 8%–16%
26 Gun shot/stab wound (severe) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15%–40%
27 Facial disfigurement or bodily scarring
(minor/moderate) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2%–10%
28 Facial disfigurement or bodily scarring (severe)
10%–30%
29 Loss of vision (one eye). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70%
30 Loss of vision (both eyes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100%
31 Mental or nervous shock (minor) . . . . . . . . . . 2%–10%
32 Mental or nervous shock (moderate) . . . . . . . . 10%–20%
33 Mental or nervous shock (severe) . . . . . . . . . . 20%–34%
34 Paraplegia/quadriplegia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100%
35 Loss of hearing (1 ear). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2%–20%
36 Loss of hearing (both ears) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4%–50%
ps - if a client of mine lost his sense of smell, I would get a hell of a lot more than $4000 for him! How bad was your lawyer Molly?
My brother was thrown out by the bouncers and he fell and hit his and had to go to hospital in an ambulance spent a week there and lost his smell.
He went for compensation and was awarded $4000 so it is worth it but you have to stick to your guns but my brother is very persistent I probably would have given up.
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