What happens if a CICA rape claim is made out of time?
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The Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) applies strict eligibility criteria. This includes an important two year time limit to submit an application for compensation. This might sound straightforward enough, but issues can arise when the victim of a crime feels too traumatised to report the matter to the police or pursue a compensation claim. That was the situation in a CICA rape claim we recently dealt with.
When our client was living alone as a young mother in her early 20s a man from her community entered her home and raped her. He continued living in her community after the rape and our client felt unable to report what had happened for fear of repercussions from the man who attacked her and his associates. Sadly, our client was not the only woman to have suffered serious sexual assault at the hands of this man.
18 years after the assault, she finally felt able to disclose what had happened to the police. This resulted in her attacker being prosecuted and convicted of rape. He is now in prison.
Following his conviction, our client asked us whether she could make a claim for compensation even though she was technically out of time. We said that she could and agreed to work on a No Win, No Fee basis.
We submitted an application to the CICA. However, despite the rapist’s recent criminal conviction, the CICA rape claim was rejected on the basis it was made too late. We challenged this decision from the CICA and demanded a review.
The specialist abuse lawyer who dealt with the claim, commented:
“Our client was extremely disappointed by the decision of the CICA to reject her application for compensation. I felt a strong sense of injustice at the prospect of our client being denied compensation and said that we should seek a review of the decision. I obtained witness statements and medical evidence in support of our application for review and argued that exceptional circumstances applied in this case.
I’m delighted to say that the CICA accepted our submissions and agreed to make an award of compensation to our client.”
The case highlights the problems that time limits cause and in particular how this can lead to injustices for those who have suffered rape, sexual assault or abuse.
Our client was fortunate. She contacted our specialist abuse team who have extensive experience in this field and were able to bring her application to a successful conclusion. But where people deal with the CICA themselves or appoint inexperienced lawyers the outcome is often unsatisfactory.
If you would like to make a CICA rape claim (even if the rape took place many years ago) then don’t take any chances, contact our abuse lawyers for a free, no obligation chat on Freephone 0809 139 1597 or send us an email.