Victim package snubs largest homicide family
Candor Trust

Candor Truat warns that no-one should be too excited by a hurtful new support package which snubs the majority of homicide victims. While the package National just unveiled is a step in the right direction, and addresses much of the obvious pain and suffering that involvement with the Justice system inflicts, the Candor Trust is appalled.

How can it be that the largest homicide victim family continues to be "familia non grata", members ask. "We are delighted that there will be more support to attend Parole Hearings, provided this extends to victims of drink and drug drivers, but currently their entitlement to be placed on the serious victims register is left entirely to Police discretion", according to Coordinator Rachael Ford.

Police aren't suffering meters, so sometimes for no explicable reason they refuse to put bona fide serious victims on it. Candor workers recall a woman with cancer, whose mentally ill neighbour attempted to murder her daughter in an unprovoked attack on her driveway, this year refused entry to the victim register.

Also, it is ludicrous, highly insulting and frankly a kick in the guts for the Government to increase the discretionary grant for families of homicide victims, under financial strain, from $1,500 to $5,000 while leaving victims of road homicide off the guest list.

Victims of road homicide have been demonstrated to suffer all of the increased financial and mental stressors of murder victims, including job loss, mortgage difficulties and much enhanced rates of suicide - often due to society ignoring their struggle (FEVR road victim survey).

Candor implores the Government to reconsider this discrimination, by broadening the definition of homicide victim to include the victims of drunk, drugged and culpable drivers. Do not increase the homicide special needs grant - just spread it around by including DUI murder victims.

Letters were sent to MP's about these issues over a year ago, but once again DUI victims have been trashed. The carrots may be dangled, but access to assistance is technically out of reach of up to 3/4's of this countries true homicide victims.

It would not become a big ticket item if the forgotten homicide victims (those innocents tortured to death on tarmac) were acknowledged. DUI victim's must gatecrash this lolly scramble, in the interests of equitable treatment, as the Bill of Rights Act forbids unequal State treatment of similar classes of people.

What murder or manslaughter victims receive, those killed by road aggressors must also be offered - anything else is just show-manship and tokenism. Candor will consider an appeal on human rights grounds if National increases the disparity between treatment received by official murder victims and impaired driving homicide ones.

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