Magdalena Vonkova may amend compensation challenge

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Magdalena Vonkova was allowed to amend her compensation challenge in the High Court on 21 January 2019. The case concerns the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal’s refusal of her application after her daughter Nicola was killed at Inverin, Co Galway, in 2008.

The amendment adds a claim that the compensation scheme is incompatible with the right to an effective remedy under Article 47 of the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and breaches EU law. Ms Vonkova argues that she and the offender lived in the same house but were not members of the same household.

Mr Justice Senan Allen allowed the amendment despite objections that it was sought outside the relevant legal time limits. He said there was a public-policy case for allowing the challenge to proceed on all grounds.