Families Of Homicide Victims To Receive Nothing

At 4:30am on the 30th of May the NSW government forced through legislation, replacing the existing “Victims Support And Rehabilitation Act 1996.”

Families of some of NSW’s most gruesome homicides have been waiting for up to 2.5 years to receive the compensation amount of $50,000 that they had applied for under the NSW Victims Support Scheme. But the change of policy and new criteria means that some of these people have been caught up in the “retrospect.” A few are only eligible for a mere $15,000, whilst others stand to receive nothing.

Speaking on behalf of the NSW Homicide Victims Support Group, counselor Denise Day verifies the strife and anguish families of homicide victims are further experiencing as a result of this decision.

“We look like liars. We advised these families, in good faith, and they made decisions in good faith. Now we are forced to explain that there is no money coming and there is not a thing anyone can do about it. This good faith stands for nothing, and that is the issue.”

The new scheme offers compensation only to family members who were financially dependent on the victim. It also allows for the re-imbursement of immediate expenses directly related to the crime, such as travel costs to and from police stations or court houses, but as Denise states, applying for this is timely and many people cant even afford the initial monetary outlay to produce the invoices.

“In the old scheme a lump sum of $50,000 went to the immediate family members and dependents. It covered things like funeral expenses and travel costs. They decided how they were to spend the money. In the new scheme you need to send in invoices which means things need to be paid for upfront and some families just don’t have that kind of money. Funerals, for example, can cost up to $15,000 which is a large amount for most families.”

Sylvia Minas, whose nephew Marc Zatarian was killed by a knife wound to the heart in May 2011, had been promised a compensation amount of $50,000. After waiting two and a half years to now learn she is to be awarded nothing, Sylvia is convinced that the government has deceived her.

“The law sucks. They simply do not want to pay. Victim’s families are being hurt and being victimized even more. We have been hit with expenses and were promised money to compensate. It is not even about the money. A member of our family has been killed and this money is help for something that was not anticipated. My sister and her family have had to travel overseas numerous times to be at Marc’s funeral and court hearing, spending over $20,000 that they do not have.”

As another example of people caught in the retrospect, Executive Director of the HVSG, Martha Jabour, explains how only six families out of the eleven people of who were murdered in the 2011 nursing home fires were paid the full amount of $50,000. Because the remaining five was caught up in the backlog they now stand to receive nothing under the new scheme.

“One incident, one perpetrator. They all had their forms in at much the same time. Some families were paid in the old scheme and others have been caught up in the new scheme and get nothing. Exactly the same murder. How ludacris, how absolutely ludacris.”

“This is the issue of the retrospectivity.” Denise says.

“On the expectation of an official form that was part of the attorney general’s department, people signed it following the information they had in front of them that this will be the outcome, but with the change of government this is not the case and they have been left stranded.”


carolinegeroyan
caroline geroyan