Decision #05/03 - Type: Victims' Rights

Preamble

A non-oral file review was held on September 25, 2003, at the request of the appellant.

Issue

Whether or not the claim is acceptable.

Decision

That the claim is not acceptable.

Decision: Unanimous

Background

On March 7, 2003, the Manitoba Compensation for Victims of Crime Program (the Program) received an Application for Compensation form filed by the applicant for a crime which had been reported to the police on March 5, 2003. The applicant reported that he had been assaulted with a weapon several times and that threats were uttered. The applicant was claiming for emotional injuries, memory loss and bruising along with medical expenses, damaged clothing and the costs associated with missing personal items, i.e. money, TV, stereo, etc.

Following an investigation into the claim, a case manager with the Program wrote to the applicant on March 28, 2003 to state that he was ineligible for compensation under section 46(1) of The Victims' Bill of Rights. The case manager stated that the Program was unable to locate any police or medical evidence that substantiated the applicant's claim that he was assaulted on or about March 5, 2003. The Program was therefore unable to confirm with any certainty the details of the incident that was described by the applicant. The applicant was also advised that even if the claim was eligible for compensation, the Program did not provide coverage for any items that had been stolen, such as money or other personal property. On May 2, 2003, the applicant filed a Request for Reconsideration form as he disagreed with the case manager's decision to deny his application.

On June 2, 2003, the Program's director wrote to the applicant stating, in part, the following:
"I have reviewed the police report relating to incident #03/42317 which refers to your complaint of theft of property. You indicated to the police that you may also have been assaulted while you were asleep, however, the police did not note any injuries. As you were not seen by a doctor or hospital for treatment for any injury relating to this incident, we are unable to verify that you were assaulted on March 4, 2003."
On July 17, 2003, the applicant disagreed with the above decision and a non-oral file review was held at the Appeal Commission.

Reasons

The Victims' Bill of Rights of Manitoba (the Act) confers on individuals, who are injured as a result of a criminal offence committed by an act or omission of another person, the right to make an application for compensation. According to section 47 of the Act, "Compensation payable to a victim in respect of his or her injury is determined in accordance with this Act and the regulations, and consists of expenses incurred by the victim in respect of the injury and, (a) if the victim is disabled by the injury, compensation for loss of wages; and (b) if the victim is permanently impaired by the injury, compensation for the impairment."

In the particular case at hand, the applicant was the victim of an alleged assault occurring on or about March 4th, 2003. The Program initially rejected the victim's application on March 28th, 2003 because it was "unable to locate any police or medical evidence" to substantiate his claim of being assaulted on the date in question. The applicant then appealed this decision to the Director of the Program.

The Director decided to uphold the initial decision to deny the claim on the following grounds:

- As you were not seen by a doctor or hospital for treatment for any injury relating to this incident, we are unable to verify that you were assaulted on March 4, 2003.
- The Program covers specific Criminal Code offences that relate to bodily injury and does not provide compensation for property related offences.

We find the evidence fails to establish that the applicant was indeed the victim of a criminal offence/assault as required by the provisions of the Act and therefore the applicant's claim is not acceptable.

Panel Members

R. W. MacNeil, Presiding Officer
A. Finkel, Commissioner
M. Day, Commissioner

Recording Secretary, B. Miller

R.W. MacNeil - Presiding Officer
(on behalf of the panel)

Signed at Winnipeg this 22nd day of October, 2003

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