Criminal injuries; they differ slightly to that of the majority of accident claims. In most accident claims, the compensation is pursued and recovered from an insurance policy covering the person or the company at fault for the accident – for example the insurers of the driver responsible for a car accident, or the insurers for a company in an employer’s liability case!
So what happens if the case one of criminal assault? The assailant is unlikely to have any insurance to claim from, or adequate assets to fund a claim and foot the legal fees. The claim is therefore brought with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority – a government body responsible for investigating and paying out to the victims of criminal attacks.
Here’s an example from sources at the Daily Mail (source), involving the story of the gentleman left blinded by a teenage girl hitting him in the face with her stilettos!
According to the report, drunken 19 year old Chelsea Holman was celebrating her birthday when she attacked the man with her stiletto, using the long-heeled shoe as a weapon. She has been quite rightly jailed for 18 months after admitting to inflicting grievous bodily harm, leaving 40 year old victim Keith Hutchings likely to be blind for life in both eyes, due to injuries from the attack and an eye condition.
Reportedly Mr Hutchinson was on a family night out in Exeter when a dispute occurred at a takeaway bar. A 17 year old girl jumped on to the back of the victim, in the midst of a dispute with two alleged queue jumpers, when Mr Hutchinson began flailing, not knowing who was on his back. Upon seeing the sight of her younger friend on the back of the victim, Ms Holman, barefooted, proceeded towards Mr Hutchinson and swung her shoe at him, catching him in the right eye.
Holman allegedly told a police officer to arrest Mr Hutchinson at the scene, and denied hitting him in the face (telling police she had hit him in the chest) and even claimed at one stage it was self defence! But the CCTV close by caught the whole incident on tape – and the camera never lies! Mr Hutchinson is now left with serious injuries that will remain with him for his whole life…
This type of incident can fall in to the category of a claim with the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (or CICA). The main prerequisites are that the incident was unprovoked, reported to the police, and medical attention was sought within a close time frame to the date of the incident!
There are several ways to pursue a claim for compensation with the CICA – you can go it alone, or get expert representation on your side! Unfortunately us specialist personal injury lawyers can’t recover our legal fees back from the CICA, so we have to regrettably charge a percentage of the claimants damages to cover the fees.
It is of course better to have representation for several reasons – firstly, the CICA are unfortunately notorious for under settling claims and taking their time with the process. We guarantee to speed up the process and will more often than not get you more compensation than going it alone – because we as experts are here to maximise the value of your claim, and recover your compensation much faster – and of course do all the legwork on your behalf; you will hardly need to lift a finger!
For expert advice on claiming through the CICA with representation, speak to a specialist personal injury lawyer for the assistance you require!
