A man who attempted to murder his wife in a grisly knife attack decided to sue. Disturbingly, his lawsuit paid off when the judge sided with his claim, leaving the taxpayers to foot the bill for the dangerous criminal.
Watford, England resident Dorinel Cojanu, 36, was sentenced to over a decade in prison for the gruesome mangling of his wife, Daniela, in an attempted murder. The Romanian immigrant was reportedly drunk when he repeatedly plunged an 8-inch kitchen knife through his wife’s torso, passing through several ribs, puncturing a lung, and finally lacerating her liver.
Daniela, 35, miraculously survived the attack but spent almost four months in the hospital. She was left with permanent physical and psychological scars. However, thanks to the court’s ruling, her attacker received a reward for his legal efforts.
After spending only five years of his 11-year sentence in prison, Cojanu received a hefty payout from the British justice system. Despite being convicted of attempted murder, the attacker was awarded monetary compensation after suing the National Healthcare System, which is funded by the taxpayers, for failing to properly treat the knife injuries he received to his hand while plunging the knife into his wife’s chest.
According to Daily Mail, Cojanu first sued the NHS, claiming that doctors’ negligence during his stay in Bedford prison left him with lifelong injuries to his right hand. He maintains that medical professionals should have performed immediate surgery on two deep cuts to his fingers, which have left him with restricted use of his hand.
Cojanu was initially awarded $11,570 by the Norwich County Court, which rejected most of his claim for clinical negligence since he had lied about how the injury occurred. The court also noted that he falsified his loss of earnings as well as the medical bills he claimed he would incur. However, Cojanu wasn’t satisfied with the amount.
Cojanu and his lawyers appealed the ruling to the High Court. Months later, Justice Andrew Ritchie decided that his compensation should be increased to $23,822. The judge ruled that Cojanu being “dishonest” about the cause of his injury wasn’t relevant to his claim against the NHS.
“The Claimant (Cojanu) did not need to prove how he was cut to win the civil action,” Justice Ritchie stated. “He was injured before admission to prison. At that time he was not convicted of anything. It matters not whether he had suffered the injury opening a tin of beans, in gang warfare or whilst attempting to murder his wife. But the cause of the cut fingers has no relevance to the clinical negligence claim. In my judgment the mechanism of how he cut his finger is incidental to the claim or collateral thereto.”
Cojanu was hoping for a payout of more than $170,000, claiming that he could no longer perform manual labor and would suffer other costs. Cojanu was deported back to Romania after serving his prison sentence. He insists that the NHS should compensate him for additional surgery in Romania as well as aftercare.
Daniela was outraged over the court’s decision. She lamented that she regularly suffered abuse from Cojanu and was left to raise three children on her own.
“It’s insulting and disgusting,” Daniela said. “This man is a violent, domestic abuser who tried to kill me. And he’s being rewarded while I haven’t received a single penny. I was in hospital for almost four months and nearly didn’t make it. It’s disgraceful that he is being rewarded for an injury he caused to himself as he attacked me. The law is wrong for giving him this money. What kind of message does this send out to women like me who are victims of domestic violence?”
Dorinel Cojanu was offered surgery by the NHS before his payout, but he declined the offer. Instead, he went ahead with the lawsuit, hoping to get a large payout from the taxpayers.
Daniela has received zero financial support since the attack, while her attacker has been financially compensated for injuries he caused through his own criminal behavior. This is just one of the many reasons why citizens have lost faith in the justice system.
