The High Court has awarded a fourteen-year-old boy €51,244 PTSD compensation for a child traumatised by a fire at the family home five years ago.
In June 2010, Aaron Monds was one four children rescued from a fire in the family home that had been started by a faulty Hotpoint dishwasher. Aaron – who had been identified as suffering from a mild intellectual disability – was only nine years old at the time and was severely traumatised by the incident.
For years after seeing the family home in Kinnegad in County Westmeath engulfed in flames, Aaron displayed symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder. He developed an irrational fear of fire and would check and re-check electrical appliances each night to ensure they were switched off and unplugged.
On Aaron´s behalf, his father – Henry Monds – claimed PTSD compensation for a child traumatized by fire against the manufacturers of the faulty dishwasher – Indesit UK Ltd. Indesit UK Ltd acknowledged that its dishwasher had caused the fire and – by proximate cause – the company admitted liability for Aaron´s post-traumatic stress disorder.
As the Injuries Board does not make assessments for psychological injuries, a hearing was scheduled at the High Court to consider how much PTSD compensation for a child traumatised by fire Aaron should be awarded. The hearing took place before Mr Justice Bernard Barton, who was told that Aaron´s condition had improved due to years of therapy.
The judge also heard that, for many years after the fire at the family home, Aaron had suffered night terrors and still had anxiety attacks about another fire in the family home. Judge Barton accepted the medical evidence that Aaron´s current symptoms would be described as residual of a post-traumatic stress disorder and he awarded Aaron €51,244 PTSD compensation for a child traumatised by a fire.