Isjb v WJG

[2005] QDC 430

DISTRICT COURT OF QUEENSLAND

CITATION:

ISJB v WJG [2005] QDC 430

PARTIES:

ISB

Applicant

v

WJG

Respondent

FILE NO/S:

BD2452/05

DIVISION:

PROCEEDING:

Hearing

ORIGINATING COURT:

District Court, Brisbane

DELIVERED ON:

21 December 2005

DELIVERED AT:

Brisbane

HEARING DATE:

2 December 2005

JUDGE:

McGill DCJ

ORDER:

Order that the respondent pay the applicant the sum of $40,000 compensation in respect of the injury suffered by her as a result of the offences of which the respondent was convicted in the District Court in Ipswich on 6 September 2004. 

CATCHWORDS:

CRIMINAL LAW – Compensation – mental or nervous shock – course of conduct – offences straddle 1 July 1984 – amended provisions apply – assessment

Criminal Code ss.663A, 663B

Acts Interpretation Act 1954 s.20(2)(c)

Chong v Chong [2001] 2 Qd R 301 – followed.
Director of Public Works v Ho Po Sang [1961] AC 901 – followed.
Esber v the Commonwealth (1992) 174 CLR 430 – distinguished.
HW v LO [2001] 2 Qd R 415 – distinguished.
Holt v Boughton (Helman CJDC, 13 August 1993, unreported) – not followed.
Kentlee Pty Ltd v PrinceConsort Pty Ltd [1998] 1 Qd R 162 – considered.
MAJ v. KM [2000] QCA 410 – applied.
M v K (D110\00, McGill DCJ, 17 April 2000, unreported) – cited.
McClintock v Jones [1996] 1 Qd R 524 – applied.
P v B [2004] QDC 149 – not followed.
Robertson v Smith [1974] Tas R 50 – considered.
Sofi v Wollondilly Shire Council [1975] 2 NSWLR 614 – cited.
SAM v SAM [2000] QDC 312; [2001] QCA 12 – applied.

COUNSEL:

M. Horvath on behalf of the applicant

A.P. Hodgson (solicitor) on behalf of the respondent

SOLICITORS:

Chris Wlodarczyk and Co for the applicant

A.P. Hodgson and Associates for the respondent

1. This is an application for compensation under chapter 65A of the Criminal Code.  On 6 September 2004 the respondent was convicted by a jury of five counts of indecently dealing with the applicant, a girl under 14 years.  He was sentenced to a term of imprisonment.  The applicant alleges that as a result of the commission of these offences she suffered mental or nervous shock.

Background

1. All the offences were committed in the mid 1980’s.  The indictment alleged that the first was committed on a date unknown between 22 January and 2 November 1984, that the second and third were committed on a date unknown between 1 November 1984 and 13 July 1985, the fourth between 1 November 1984 and 1 July 1986, and the fifth between 1 November 1984 and 14 July 1986.  In my sentencing remarks[1], I said that the first occurred in 1984 while playing hide and seek on an upper bunk, the second and third occurred in a bedroom on the same day at a time when the applicant was six, the fourth occurred “not all that long after that” in a toilet, and the fifth “on a later occasion”, which was not otherwise identified in the sentencing remarks, when he…