Ioannou v Catania

[2008] VSC 302

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA Not restricted

AT MELBOURNE
CRIMINAL LAW DIVISION

No. 1496 of 2004

JOHN IOANNOU	Applicant
v
DAMIEN JAMES CATANIA	Respondent
JUDGE:	BELL J
WHERE HELD:	Melbourne
DATE OF HEARING:	1 August 2008
DATE OF JUDGMENT:	1 August 2008
CASE MAY BE CITED AS:	Ioannou v Catania
MEDIUM NEUTRAL CITATION:	[2008] VSC 302

APPEARANCES:	Counsel	Solicitors
For the applicant	Mr VM Gregurek	Garry A Nicholson
For the respondent	The respondent appeared on his own behalf

HIS HONOUR:

1. John Ioannou has made an application for compensation against Damien Catania under s 85B(1) of the Sentencing Act 1991.  The statute allows the court to make an order for compensation in favour of a victim against a person convicted of an offence if the victim has suffered an injury as a direct result of the offence.

1. On 10 June 2005, in the Supreme Court of Victoria, a jury convicted Mr Catania of the offence of intentionally causing serious injury to Mr Ioannou.  The circumstances of the offence were that Mr Catania set fire to Mr Ioannou causing him serious burn and related injuries.  Those injuries now include severe post‑traumatic stress disorder and chronic depression.  They are fully described in the evidence in this application and at the trial.  There is no doubt Mr Ioannou has suffered these injuries as a direct result of the crime committed against him by Mr Catania.

1. Mr Ioannou's injuries are so severe, and the continuing psychological impact of those injuries on him has been so great, that no amount of money would provide full compensation for what Mr Catania did to him.  Mr Ioannou confines his application for compensation to injuries in the nature of pain and suffering.  His pain and suffering has been very grave indeed.

1. The evidence at the trial and in this application for compensation is that Mr Catania had one asset, an interest in a house.  That house has been sold and the proceeds are being held by the Department of Justice to satisfy any compensation order that the court might make.  The amount being held is $32,051.33.  Victoria Legal Aid disavows any entitlement to that money, so it is fully available to satisfy any such order.

1. Mr Catania is a poorly educated man aged 32 years.  He did unskilled work while at large.  After leaving prison some years hence he will likely do that kind of work again.  He has no means to satisfy an order for compensation in excess of the proceeds available from the sale of his house and is most unlikely to have these means at any time after his release.  I take these matters into account under s 85H of the Act, which requires me to consider, among other things, the financial circumstances of the offender, and the nature of the burden that the payment of any order of compensation will impose.

1. In the circumstances, I think I should try to achieve substantial and practical justice by making an expeditious order for compensation in Mr Ioannou’s favour, but not in excess of the $32,051.33 available to satisfy that order.  His counsel agreed with this approach.

1. Section 85I requires me to reduce the amount of any compensation by the amount of any award made under the Victims of Crime Assistance Act 1996.  The evidence shows Mr Ioannou was awarded $8,204.00 under that Act.

1. In all of the circumstances, I would make an order for compensation under s 85B(1) of the Sentencing Act for $40,255.33.  Reducing that amount by $8,204.00, the actual order for compensation that I will make is for $32,051.33.

1. Therefore I order Damien Catania to pay $32,051.33 to John Ioannou as compensation for the crime he committed against him, remembering that by reason of the nature of Mr Ioannou's injuries no amount of money could be full compensation for what he has suffered and will suffer in the future.

1. On Mr Ioannou's signed authority, his counsel has asked me to direct that the monies held by the Department of Justice be paid to Mr Ioannou's solicitors.  I will make that direction.

1. The formal orders of the court will be:

(1)Under s 85B(1) of the Sentencing Act 1991, Damien Catania is to pay compensation in the amount of $32,051.33 to John Ioannou.

(2)The Department of Justice is directed to pay the amount of $32,051.33 held in respect of any order of compensation to Mr Ioannou's solicitor, Garry A Nicholson.

(3)There will be no order for costs, so each party will bear their own costs.

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