Derrick v Crow

[2006] QDC 490

DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

Derrick v Crow [2006] QDC 490

PARTIES:

JOHN DERRICK

Applicant

V

DANNY ROBERT CROW

Respondent

FILE NO/S:

BD385/06

DIVISION:

Civil

PROCEEDING:

Application for criminal compensation

ORIGINATING COURT:

District Court, Brisbane

DELIVERED ON:

1 December 2006

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

JUDGE:

Nase DCJ

ORDER:

That Danny Robert Crow pay to John Derrick the sum of $23,250 by way of compensation pursuant to the Criminal Offence Victims Act 1995.

CATCHWORDS:

COUNSEL:

Mrs J Fadden for the applicant

SOLICITORS:

Legal Aid Office (Qld) for the applicant

1. This is an application for a compensation order by John Derrick (the applicant) pursuant to the Criminal Offence Victims Act 1995 (the Act). The respondent to the application is Danny Robert Crow.

1. The respondent has chosen not to appear or to be represented at the hearing of the application.  As a consequence, the hearing proceeded in his absence and solely on materials placed before the court by the applicant.

1. On 6 March 2003 the respondent was convicted on indictment in the District Court at Brisbane of doing grievous bodily harm to the applicant.  He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment.

1. At the time the applicant was working as a deckhand on a commercial fishing boat.  The respondent was working on another boat.  Both boats were fishing the remote Kirke River area of Cape York.  Unfortunately there was bad blood between the two boat owners, which had resulted in ongoing conflict between the boats.

1. On this occasion a dingy used by the applicant became stuck on a sandbank as he was returning to the boat.  The respondent and another man named Gray approached the applicant and verbally threatened him.  Gray was holding a rifle, which he pointed directly at the applicant.  The two men (Gray and the respondent) then landed on the sandbank, where the respondent assaulted the applicant.  During the assault he was punched and kicked about the head and body.  He suffered fractures to his jaw in the assault.

1. I am satisfied the applicant suffered an injury within the meaning of s 20 of the Act, and the offence is a personal offence within the meaning of s 21 of the Act.

1. Under the legislative scheme a court may make a compensation order up to the scheme maximum in accordance with the provisions of the Act.  The method of assessment under the legislative scheme involves associating an injury suffered by an applicant with a corresponding item in a compensation table attached to the Act.  The maximum awards of compensation are to be reserved for the most serious cases and the awards in other cases are to be scaled according to the relative seriousness of the particular injury (s 22(4)).  In assessing compensation, it is important to be mindful of the principle that the compensation which may be awarded under the Act is intended to help an applicant and is not intended to reflect the compensation the applicant may be entitled at common law (s 22(3)).

1. The claims advanced in…