|
S.65 Guidelines - Secondary Victims
Guideline – Section 65
Secondary victims – section 8(1)
Section 8(1) provides that a secondary victim of an act of violence is a person who received a compensable injury as a direct result of witnessing the act of violence that resulted in the compensable injury to or death of the primary victim of that act.
To succeed, it must be established that there was an act of violence that resulted in a compensable injury, or death to the primary victim.
To establish an act of violence, the victim of that act must have suffered an injury as defined in the Dictionary and to succeed as a primary victim the victim must have sustained a compensable injury.
Where the primary victim has not lodged a claim for compensation, a statement in an assessor’s determination “I am satisfied that this applicant ‘witnessed’ the act of violence and that she is entitled to claim as a secondary victim” does not meet the requirements of section 8(1).
The elements set out in section 5 must be found before an act of violence is established and a compensable injury must be established before the primary victim can succeed. Once those elements are established only then is a witness to the act of violence entitled to claim as a secondary victim.
C.R. Brahe
Chairperson
4 February 2002.
|