21 year old female victim seeks legal clarification of the circumstances in which voyeurism can constitute a crime of violence.
The pubic law team at Switalskis Solicitors are involved in a test case which is to be heard at 10.30am on Thursday 26th January 2017 in the Upper Tier Tribunal Appeals Chamber, London. The firm are representing Bronwyn Kerris Watson, a 21 year old woman whose step-father was convicted in 2015 of a number of offences of voyeurism against her which resulted in a custodial sentence of 7 months.
Following her step-father’s conviction, Bronwyn applied to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) for compensation. The CICA turned down her application on the basis that voyeurism ‘does not constitute a crime of violence’ for the purposes of the CICA compensation scheme.
She appealed this decision to the First Tier Tribunal, and was successful. The Tribunal found that while the offence of voyeurism is a crime of violence per se, in the particular circumstances of this case she was the direct victim of violence in that she had a well-founded fear of immediate violence from her stepfather at the time she discovered the indecent images of her taken by him.
The CICA are seeking a Judicial Review of this decision, arguing that the First tier Tribunal got the law wrong when it found that there had been a crime that involved a “threat against a person”. They argue that the threat of immediate unlawful violence was merely hypothetical. Switalskis Solicitors Anna Jackson, who is representing Bronwyn said “The issues before the Upper Tribunal are: 1) was the First Tier Tribunal right to find that the fear of immediate unlawful violence was established and 2) does voyeurism constitute a crime of violence? If the Upper Tribunal decides that the answers to these questions are ‘no’ then Bronwyn is extremely unlikely to receive compensation, even though she was the victim of an intrusive and horrific crime. Bronwyn’s situation is compounded further by the fact that her mother died when she was 14 years old, not long before the offences began.”
On granting permission to apply for Judicial Review the Judge commented in the order “Clarification of the circumstances in which voyeurism can constitute a crime of violence raises an important point of law.” Whilst Bronwyn has had the benefit of some public funding, she is required to make a financial contribution towards the legal costs of defending the CICA’s decision to seek a Judicial Review.
