Victims of Crime Ireland

Victims of Crime.

If you have been the victim of crime, whether a criminal assault, a sexual assault, an unprovoked attack or another criminal act that causes you a financial loss (through personal injuries or psychological/psychiatric injuries), you may be entitled to compensation. Victims of crime are often not fully informed of their options and we are here to support you in these difficult times.

Sources of Compensation for Victims of Crime

Compensation for victims of crime can be awarded either through the Civil Courts, if the attacker is known to you (or if someone else can be held responsible for your injuries) and if the parties have sufficient means to meet an order of the Court. The other option is through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal (“the CICT”), if the attacker is unknown to you or if they don’t have the means to pay an award made in a Civil Case.

There is no bar to bringing parallel cases in both the Civil Courts and the CICT. This means that you can recover some or all elements in the Civil Courts and the balance through the CICT. As solicitors with experience in bringing such complex cases, we would recommend starting such parallel claims in all circumstances as it greatly increases your ability to recover your losses.

We have acted in numerous cases for victims of crimes where we have settled Civil Cases in the High Court and recovered significant additional monies in the CICT for items not recovered in the High Court settlement.

You might also note that during your criminal case, the Judge may decide to order that the offender pay compensation to you. This will be at the option of the Court and not within your control, so we would not rely on this as an avenue for recovering monies due to you.

If you receive compensation as a victim of crime through a Judge ordering the payment of sums to you in a criminal case or on foot of an award in a Civil case, the amount of any such award will be deducted from the number of monies claimed in your CICT application.

So the routes available are:

1. If you do not know your attacker or they have no money – the CICT,
2. If you know the attacker and they have money – the CICT and the Courts.

The CICT & Victims of Crime

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal is a scheme that was established in Ireland under European Union Law and allows for payments to victims of crime where the identity of the attacker is not known (or where compensation is not recoverable from them). The scheme is funded by the Department of Justice and Equality and is backed by the State.

The Scheme itself does not require you to prove that any particular person is liable for your injuries for an award to be made (unlike the Civil Courts) so it is easier to receive an award of compensation under the Scheme. That said, the areas or headings that you can be compensated under are far more restricted but there is still scope to recover considerable awards under the scheme.

Victims of Crime – Why Choose O’Kelly Solicitors

The key to recovering the maximum amount under the Scheme is having a solicitor acting for you who has an in-depth knowledge of the areas recoverable, the interpretation of the Scheme by the members of the CICT as well as having appeared before the CICT on numerous occasions.

We have acted in highly complex cases in the CICT involving several specialised aspects of the Scheme, recovered considerable monies for our clients and have litigated against the operation of the Scheme in the High Court.

Other resources

If you are the victim of a crime, there are other resources available to you such as:

1. http://www.victimsofcrimeoffice.ie
2. http://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/victims_of_crime.
3. https://crimevictimshelpline.ie.

To discuss your claim (or potential claim), please do not hesitate to contact Mark O’Kelly, the principal of the Firm, on 086 7889753 or via email to mark@okellysolicitors.ie. All our contact details can be found here.