Children denied compensation over murder

Children denied compensation over murder
TIM DORNIN
August 5, 2010 - 4:14PM

www.BostonSocialAnxiety.com
AAP

Two children have been denied compensation over the murder of their father, with a court ruling that payments made to their foster carers were sufficient.

The children had asked to share $50,000 in victims of crime compensation after their father, Robert Anderson, was set on fire and burnt to death in Adelaide in 2005.

Mr Anderson's former partner, Vicki Brooks, and her current partner, Dennis Childs, were both jailed for life over the killing.

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His children were aged nine and 10 at the time and were being cared for by Brooks.

Since Mr Anderson's death the children have been in foster care or other arrangements with carers receiving regular payments from the state government.

In a judgment on Thursday, the Full Court of the Supreme Court ruled that a District Court judge had correctly found that the cost of providing even minimum care to the children until they turned 18 would far exceed the maximum compensation allowed.

The full court rejected arguments from counsel for the children that the money paid for their care related to the jailing of their mother and was not related to the murder of their father.

"In our view, an assessment of financial losses should take into account any financial gains to the appellants as a result of their father's death," justices John Sulan, Tim Anderson and Robyn Layton said.

The judges said the trial judge was correct in taking into account the money paid by the government for the care of the child.

They said legislation was clearly designed to avoid double dipping.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/children-denied-compensation-over-murder-20100805-11jws.html