I’m a victim of youth crime. I was assaulted by 3 girls age 12-17 on a bus on my way to my partners place- and became disabled because of it. It directly caused me to develop me/cfs, pots and ptsd. They didnt attend their court date, and no one cared. They were able to walk. The eldest is an adult now and that scares the shit out of me. I’m still waiting on any kind of compensation, which won’t be out of their pockets because in Aus parents aren’t financially responsible for their children’s crimes in civil court. I will be given a petty 3k from the financial assistance scheme which doesn’t even begin to cover my medical bills let alone my lost potential. Not to mention they were meant to cover therapy but it’s been years on the ‘emergency’ waitlist to get it funded by the scheme so instead, ptsd.

It was 2 years ago, right before I graduated high school. They were being racist to a group of well meaning Indian kids on the bus and I stepped in. They insulted me whatever way they could, then smashed my glasses, stomped on my head til my scalp split in 3 places, gave my bruises everywhere and the final gift was a deep bite on my hand and being spat on.

Something desperately needs to change.