A District Court judge has declined a request to access court-held injury compensation, insisting that childrens compensation funds should not be used for family expenses.
Judge Mary Collins ruled that funds held by the court on behalf of four-year-old Oluwatimileyin Olaleye, who was awarded 4,500 Euros following a traffic accident in 2010, should not be released in order that the family could purchase a new car.
The boy’s father, Ibrahim Olaleye, from Lucan, County Dublin, had applied to court for the release of 1,500 Euros from his son’s award in order to buy a car for the family. However, Judge Mary Collins refused to release any money from the boy’s court account, saying that childrens compensation funds had never been meant for the purchase of a car or any other family expense.
Oluwatimileyin had been awarded the compensation last year for injuries he received in a car crash in which his mother, Veronica, had been the driver. The award of 4,500 Euros had been approved in court after a compensation claim had been by Oluwatimileyin through his father, but Judge Mary Collins said the money was to remain in court until Oluwatimileyin was 18; at which time it would be released to him with any interest gained.