KEY POINTS:
New Zealanders will resent paying for cosmetic surgery for a serial burglar whose ear was bitten by a police dog during an arrest, the National Party says.
Casey Voges, 29, whose left ear was bitten off by a police dog, is to have it reconstructed at the expense
of ACC.
The surgery, a rare and complex series of operations, is expected to cost about $20,000.
Voges told the Sunday Star-Times it was unfair for the taxpayer to have to foot the bill to repair his ear, as a result of a criminal act. But he was a "victim" of an assault by a dog.
National Party ACC spokeswoman Pansy Wong said taxpayers would find it very difficult to digest that their hard-earned money was going to cosmetically enhance a criminal's looks.
"He claims he is a victim and that victims have a right to be compensated, but I am certain society's true victims will find this claim repugnant.
"Casey Voges also says he wants to turn his life around and spend his time in prison bettering himself.
"Surely, part of that process will be accepting that he sustained his injury while committing a crime, and his threat to take legal action to force authorities to let him have the procedure in prison does not sound like the act of a remorseful criminal," Ms Wong said.
The newspaper said Voges had spent 12 years of his life behind bars in Australia and New Zealand for burglary and drug use but now he says he wants to turn around his life.
And to help he needs the new ear - his was bitten off by a police dog during an arrest in February 2005.
Police said though Voges was unarmed he resisted arrest and the dog attacked instinctively.
ACC spokesman Laurie Edwards said the corporation could apply to courts to decline an application where the injury was sustained in a crime and it would be repugnant to the public.
While the procedure could be described as cosmetic, Mr Edwards said, it may also improve Voges' hearing by better channelling sounds.
He said while prisoners were entitled to ACC-funded medical treatment, they were not eligible for financial compensation.
Many people would share Mrs Wong's view, but it would take a change in ACC legislation to prevent people being funded for medical treatment for injuries sustained during crimes, Mr Edwards added.
- NZPA
