Compensation for crime victims after Court of Appeal ruling
Four victims of crime have finally been awarded compensation after taking their cases to the Court of Appeal.
The group, along with a fifth member, launched appeals after filing claims with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board — only to be told that their applications were out of time.
Under existing rules, a claim must be made within a year of the incident, although the board has discretion to extend that deadline by a further 12 months.
At a Court of Appeal hearing a year ago, the five accepted that their claims had been submitted after the two-year deadline but argued that they were never advised of the time restriction — and that legal and administrative hurdles made it impossible to comply with the rule.
They called to have the board’s decisions overturned and argued that they were discouraged from filing claims until they had obtained all documentation, such as death certificates and proof that a crime had been committed — a process that took more than two years.
The Court of Appeal agreed.
In a ruling delivered last November, president Sir Christopher Clarke said that, although the CICB had followed regulations, those regulations needed to change — and that an “ex gratia” payment of compensation should be made to the five.
Sir Christopher said: “It cannot possibly be right to highlight in red the fact that failure to provide all necessary information will delay consideration of the application but conceal the fact that after the expiry of one or, at best, two years, the claim will not be capable of consideration at all.
“It is the latter fact that should be highlighted in red, when in fact it was hidden from view.”
Sir Christopher added that the Attorney-General and the board should consider whether the law was fair and, if not, whether it could be amended to extend the two-year deadline.
A spokeswoman for the Attorney-General’s Chambers confirmed last week that four of the applicants had received compensation payments, while a fifth payment was pending.
The spokeswoman said: “The ex gratia compensation payments recommended by the Court of Appeal for five applicants in November 2023 has been made to four of the five applicants.
“One payment is outstanding due to incorrect information being supplied from that applicant, which is actively being resolved.”
The spokeswoman insisted that, under the regulations, the board was powerless to accept applications beyond the two-year time limit.
The Attorney-General’s Chambers released figures for the number of compensation applications that have been submitted and approved in the past four years.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Board has been dogged by a backlog of cases in recent years, resulting in victims of violent crime waiting years for their applications to be heard.
In December 2019, Victoria Pearman, then the Ombudsman, carried out an investigation which highlighted serious problems at the board, including that it lacked the basic administrative and financial backing to do its job.
In 2020, the Government passed legislation which it claimed would speed up compensation payments.
But in her 2021 report, Ms Pearman concluded that applicants may find “difficulty in navigating the rules and procedures necessary for the application process“.
According to the latest figures, the CICB paid out almost $661,000 in compensation in 2021 after receiving 25 applications.
That figure dropped to almost $267,000 in 2022 when 14 applications were received.
The same number of applications was received last year, when about $53,000 was paid out, although the spokeswoman said that some of those applications were still under review.
So far this year, eight applications have been submitted, but no payments have been made.
She said: “Individuals seeking compensation through the CICB must submit their applications within one year from the date of injury, regardless of ongoing court proceedings or pending adjudications.
“According to Section 4 of the Criminal Injuries (Compensation) Act 1973, ‘an application for compensation shall be made within a year of the date of the injury or death in respect of which the application is made; but the board may, if it thinks fit, extend the period of one year for a further period not exceeding twelve months’.
“Please note that the board does not possess the authority to consider applications submitted more than two years following the date of injury or death.”
Criminal injuries application forms viewed online yesterday advised: “Applications must be made within one year of the date of injury/death for which this application is being made.”
A footnote added that the board may extend the period by up to 12 months, if that was deemed appropriate.
The five applicants included a mother whose son had been murdered.
Valerie Raynor filed an application after her son, Amon Brown, was stabbed to death by his son Tyshaun Brown on July 8, 2020.
Tyshaun Brown was arrested and appeared in court a week later, when he admitted the attack. However, he was not convicted until March 2022 and was sentenced to life behind bars a month later.
It took Ms Raynor several more months before she was able to obtain the necessary paperwork to submit her claim — by which time she had passed the two-year threshold.
Speaking to The Royal Gazette, Ms Raynor applauded the Court of Appeal’s intervention.
She said: “Yes, I’ve received my compensation, but it was a mountain to climb.”
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