Dead man wins compo
A DEAD man's family has been awarded $35,000 in a landmark Australian case for injuries he suffered in a home invasion.
Justice Margaret Wilson, of the Queensland Supreme Court, said it appeared to be the first time compensation had been awarded after the injured person had died.
"Research by the applicant's solicitor and by my associate failed to find any decided case in which the victim of crime died before his or her application for criminal compensation was heard," Justice Wilson said.
She said she was satisfied the case for compensation could proceed and awarded damages to the Public Trustee on behalf of the dead man, Shane Warren.
In May 2007, Rikki Lee Kaye and Jason Mark Warren broke into Mr Warren's Pialba home armed with a knife and a mini samurai sword.
Mr Warren was stabbed six times in the thorax, left shoulder and left armpit.
Two of Mr Warren's ribs were broken and both his lungs collapsed during the attack by Warren, his natural brother, and Kaye, his brother by adoption.
Mr Warren survived the attack, only to die of unrelated causes on June 9, 2011.
On April 9, 2009, Warren and Kaye were jailed for six years.
A victim's statement by Mr Warren submitted later that year said: "I hear and see it every day and night, it replays through my mind.
"I've lost my family, my de facto and my daughter, out of fear."
Mr Warren's attackers were ordered to pay the entire sum.
