Would-be wife killer awarded thousands in compensation
Dorinel Cojanu, 36, a Romanian national jailed in the UK for attempting to murder his wife, has been awarded £17,500 ($23,644) after suing the NHS for not treating injuries he sustained when stabbing his wife.
Cojanu, was imprisoned for 11 years in December 2015, after he plunged an eight-inch blade into his then wife Daniella at the family home in Watford when he was drunk. Daniella spent some four months in hospital battling for her life.
Such was the ferocity of the attack, Cojanu suffered two deep cuts to his hand. Upon arrest, doctors determined that his cuts required treatment. But due to security concerns, an operation providing reconstructive surgery was canceled and was not rescheduled within the necessary timeframe – which his lawyers claim should have been 10 days.
Cojanu, who only served five years of the 11-year-sentence, sued the NHS for failing to treat his hand promptly on arrival at Bedford prison. He claimed to have life-long injuries that would restrict the use of his right hand.
The Romanian demanded total compensation of £125,000 from Britain’s national healthcare provider, citing lost earnings as a manual laborer.
Cojanu was awarded £8,500 at Norwich County Court in May 2021, with the judge, Recorder Gibbons, rejecting the claim for clinical negligence on the grounds that the Romanian had been dishonest about how he sustained the injury. He claimed that he had acted in self-defense when his wife attacked him.
On appeal, his compensation was increased to £17,500 this week by the High Court. The judge ruled that his dishonesty was irrelevant to the civil claim against the NHS.
Cojanu was deported back to Romania in June 2020.
