Meaning of victim and harm
6 Meaning of victim and harm
A victim is a person who suffers harm—
because a criminal offence is committed against the person; or
because the person is a family member or dependant of another person who suffers harm because a criminal offence is committed against the other person; or
as a direct result of intervening to help another person who suffers harm or dies because a criminal offence is committed against the other person; or
because the person is a witness of a criminal offence committed against another person.
A person who is a family member or dependant of another person is a victim if the other person dies because a criminal offence is committed against the other person.
Subsection (4) applies if a victim mentioned in subsection (1)(a) is pregnant when the criminal offence is committed and, as a result of the commission of the criminal offence—
the person sustains a bodily injury that results in the destruction of the life of the person’s unborn child; or
the person dies, resulting in the destruction of the life of the person’s unborn child.
A victim includes a person who has suffered harm because the person would, if the unborn child had been born alive, have been a family member of the child.
Also, a victim includes a person not mentioned in subsection (1), (2) or (4) who suffers harm—
because domestic violence is committed against the person; or
because the person is a family member or dependant of a person mentioned in paragraph (a); or
as a direct result of intervening to help a person mentioned in paragraph (a).
A person who commits a criminal offence or domestic violence against a person as mentioned in subsection (1)(a) or (5)(a) is not a victim under subsection (1)(b), (c) or (d), (2), (4) or (5)(b) or (c).
For this section, a person suffers harm if, because of a criminal offence or domestic violence committed against the person—
the person suffers physical, psychological or emotional harm; orExamples for paragraph (a)—
bodily injury, grief, distress or trauma
the person’s property is taken, destroyed or damaged; or
the person suffers financial or economic loss.
The statute text is free to read above. View Pro plans to unlock the case-law research tools for each provision.