Compensation scheme must be reformed to be victim-led and rights-based, says attack survivor

Ruth Maxwell: 'Victims and bereaved families deserve a fair, transparent, and trauma-informed process that recognises harm, restores dignity, and provides real justice.' Picture: Bob Morrison

Ruth Maxwell was on her way to work when she was attacked by a random stranger one early morning in May 2016.

She was going to catch a Luas when the man she now knows to have been Polish man Slawomir Gierlowski attacked her at knifepoint, attempting to drag her to his nearby van. She severed tendons in her hand when fighting him off, leading to severe damage to three fingers in her dominant hand.