Can I claim compensation for witnessing a murder? Read this real-life case study where we recovered compensation for a boy who tragically witnessed his mother’s murder.
CICA criminal injury lawyer, Elizabeth Duncan, represented a young child who tragically witnessed the murder of his mother. Witnessing such an event had a profound and life-altering affect on the boy. We shall refer to Elizabeth’s client as X for privacy.
While X had already received a payment from the government’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) scheme in relation to the loss of his mother, such were his psychological problems from having witnessed the murder that his father made a second application in relation to the psychological harm his son had suffered as a consequence of witnessing the event.
The child’s father sought expert help from Elizabeth after he received an offer of compensation from the CICA of just £2,400. Elizabeth advised X’s father about getting this increased given the duration of X’s psychological symptoms and she agreed to assist on a No Win – No Fee basis.
Elizabeth strongly believed X should receive a much high offer under the CICA scheme given the impact that witnessing this awful event had on him. Expert evidence was obtained from a psychologist, but the CICA’s improved offer of £6,200 was still inadequate in Elizabeth’s view.
Elizabeth therefore appealed to the tribunal where, at last, the CICA conceded that the correct amount under the scheme was £13,500, an offer which X’s father accepted for him.
While the money will not erase the horror of the event, it will enable X to access specialist, privately funded medical services, to help him move on in his life.