Whose duty is it to send the notice about a compensation application, and who must receive it once the victim has died?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file we read the paper bringing the public prosecution and the offence charged in it, since the duty attaches only to that offence. We also read the victim's identity papers, the proof of any legal representative's authority, and, where the victim has died, papers showing each recipient's relationship as spouse, lineal relative or sibling, alongside the notice itself and the date it was sent.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading sets the scope as written: once a prosecutor has brought a public prosecution for the offence the earlier provision prescribes, that prosecutor must notify without delay the victim or the victim's legal representative that a compensation application may be made following the procedure set in the later provision, and where the victim has died the persons to be notified include the victim's spouse, lineal relatives and siblings.
Another reading notices that the words 'include the victim's spouse, lineal relatives and siblings' list who falls among the notified persons when the victim has died, while the provision does not say whether notice to one such relative discharges the duty towards the others, nor does it say what happens where no such relative can be found.
Your judgment
Where the victim has died and several lineal relatives or siblings are living, how could a file show whether the notice sent to one of them discharged the duty towards the others?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to say whether all relatives within the list must be notified, or if a court decision decides what a single notice to one relative means for the others.