The family of a murder victim in Sunderland have been awarded compensation at the third time of asking after Kevin Johnson, 22, was stabbed outside his house in May 2007 after he confronted three teenagers. According to the BBC website, Mr Johnson’s family were awarded £5,500 after earlier bids for compensation were turned down by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) on the grounds that Mr Johnson should have stayed inside his home.
Mr Johnson confronted the three teens, all of whom have since been jailed for life for murder, over their rowdy behaviour which was keeping his son awake.
Mr Johnson’s father has expressed his disgust at the difficulty that the family have had in securing compensation, questioning why CICA were so unwilling to pay out anything until they were put in front of the Independent Tribunal Service.
The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority is a government organisation that can pay money to people who have been physically or mentally injured because they were the innocent victim of a violent crime.
The level of compensation paid out obviously varies based on the severity of the injuries sustained but it also is dependent upon the actions of the victim in the circumstances. The amount claimed for in Mr Johnson’s case was originally for the sum of £11,000, however the 50% reduction was based on the fact that Mr Johnson was deemed to have contributed to his own death.
The police are trained to diffuse potentially difficult situations and it is clear that from this judgement that courts want to emphasise that it should be the responsibility of the police to deal with these types of situations and not the layman. However, it is easy to understand the reasons behind Mr Johnson’s decision to try and act in what he felt at that time were the best interests of his family, and no doubt it is a course of action that many would be inclined to take.