VIC Sexually Assaulted at Supermarket - Is Supermarket Liable?

[Rachel bar]

Hello,

About 7 month ago i have sexually assaulted at a big Supermarket, the offender has esscaped
and the police have not been able to catch him.

On this day the way the staff at this location offered me no help and I left without anyone writing a report or calling
the police. I have had a history of sexual assaults in the past and this incident triggered and I am now
been diagnosed with depression receiving counselling and have been out of work for six month , receiving income protection from my personal insurance.

Does the supermarket chain have any public liability towards me as this have caused me personal damages?

 

[Sarah J]

Hi Rachel,

I'm very sorry that this happened to you.

In my opinion, unless you can argue that the supermarket owed you some kind of duty of care, they will not be liable for this incident. Unfortunately, I cannot think of any duty of care the supermarket could have owed you (or other shoppers), the breach of which contributed to the sexual assault. I believe you would be hard pressed to argue that they were negligent or otherwise liable.

Hopefully someone else on here will be able to shed further light on this question.

 

[Sophea]

Hi Rachel,

Further to Sarah's comments, I doubt that you will be able to rely on the conduct of the supermarket employees immediately after the incident, such as failing to write an incident report on it or call the police, as this conduct was not causative of the incident. There is no recognised category of duty for supermarkets to customers with respect to sexual assaults so you would have to prove that it was somehow foreseeable that a customer could be sexual assaulted while in their store, which is a long shot. Then you would have to provide evidence to prove that they breached that duty. Based on the information you have provided, I personally don't think you would have grounds to hold them liable.

 

[Rachel bar]

Hi Rachel,

I'm very sorry that this happened to you.

In my opinion, unless you can argue that the supermarket owed you some kind of duty of care, they will not be liable for this incident. Unfortunately, I cannot think of any duty of care the supermarket could have owed you (or other shoppers), the breach of which contributed to the s*xual assault. I believe you would be hard pressed to argue that they were negligent or otherwise liable.

Hopefully someone else on here will be able to shed further light on this question.

Thank You!!

 

[Rachel bar]

Hi Rachel,

Further to Sarah's comments, I doubt that you will be able to rely on the conduct of the supermarket employees immediately after the incident, such as failing to write an incident report on it or call the police, as this conduct was not causative of the incident. There is no recognised category of duty for supermarkets to customers with respect to s*xual assaults so you would have to prove that it was somehow foreseeable that a customer could be s*xual assaulted while in their store, which is a long shot. Then you would have to provide evidence to prove that they breached that duty. Based on the information you have provided, I personally don't think you would have grounds to hold them liable.

Thank you!

 

[Paul Cott]

Rachel,

Have you considered putting in a victims of crime application?

You don't need to show anyone was at fault, only that a crime of violence was committed - sexual assault would probably fit within that definition.

You can get a lump sum and your medical counselling and psychological expenses paid as well as loss of earnings.

Your legal costs would generally be paid for by the Victims of crime tribunal, too.

Hope that helps.

Paul.