Payouts to hurt crime victims falls by 5%

THERE has been a fall in the amount of money paid out to victims of crime, new data shows.

A total of €4.072 million was paid out under the Scheme of Compensation for Personal Injuries Criminally Inflicted last year — a fall of more than €200,000, or 5%, from 2009.

The main reason for the decreased pay-out was a drop in the amounts paid to victims of non-fatal crime, while the amount paid to those affected by fatal crime actually increased.

While €600,000 was paid out in fatal awards in 2009, last year that figure rose to €635,000.

As for non-fatal awards, the figure last year was €3.437m, down from €3.7m in 2009.

The largest single category for awards was assaults, with 239 payments made in non-fatal cases and 13 in cases where someone died.

The next largest category was non-fatal injuries sustained in the course of a robbery, at 20, while 13 payments were awarded in cases of fatal shootings and in one other case of a non-fatal shooting.

Fourteen awards were made in cases involving stabbings, five of which were fatal, while six payments were made in cases of non-fatal sexual assault.

The remaining payments were awarded for three fatal arson attacks and two fatal strangulations.

It is the third year in a row that the amount of money paid out under the criminal injuries compensation scheme has fallen.

AdVic, which provides support and counselling for those affected by homicides, said the number of new clients it has seen this year has actually decreased.

Noeleen Slattery of AdVic said they had seen nine new families affected by homicide in the first six months of this year, compared to 26 in the whole of 2010.

“I would notice it this year that it is quieter,” she said. However, AdVic now has a client list of approximately 170 families, the majority of whom had no role in criminality when they were affected by homicide.

The organisation helps people to apply to the compensation scheme for awards and also runs counselling services in Dublin and Cork.

It now has 14 counsellors around the country and next month begins its second 10-week group therapy course in Cork city for anyone in the southern part of the country affected by homicide.

Ms Slattery said the course of therapy is specifically structured for anyone who has been bereaved as a result of a murder or manslaughter. She said letters would be sent to participants in the coming weeks.