Bus driver bashed by Wilfred actor gets his compo back
A COMPO cheat bashed by the star of the hit TV comedy Wilfred has had his weekly payments turned back on despite owing WorkCover $57,000.
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A BUS driver who ripped off WorkCover after being bashed by the star of the hit TV comedy Wilfred has had his compo reinstated by a magistrate.
Joseph Hosny, 60, last year admitted cheating us all by secretly working while also receiving weekly WorkCover payments.
Hosny was driving a shuttle bus at the Spring Carnival in 2007 when he was punched to the head by drunken actor Jason Gann, who plays a sociopathic, foul-mouthed, bong-smoking dog in the hit comedy series Wilfred.
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WORKCOVER CHEATS RIPPING MILLIONS FROM COMPENSATION FUND
A St John’s Ambulance doctor at the track identified several punches to Hosny’s left cheek but no evidence of bruising. Two days later his GP observed “minor physical injuries”.
Hosny was referred to a psychologist in 2007 and the following year a psychiatrist found he was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.
Hosny lodged a WorkCover claim claiming he had developed a fear of crowds and of going out and that his loss of income had ruined his marriage.
In 2012 he sued Gann in the County Court for damages.
The US-based actor did not defend the matter and Hosny was awarded $325,000 in damages, a decision Gann is now fighting to overturn.
During the damages trial Hosny revealed he had worked while on WorkCover compo in 2008-09. Subsequently, he was charged with 244 deceptions and frauds, and in 2014 was handed a six-month suspended jail sentence and ordered to repay WorkCover $50,000 plus $7500 in costs after pleading guilty to a single rolled up charge of deception.
Hosny, who has not repaid a cent, applied to the Magistrates Court to set aside WorkCover’s 2015 decision to terminate his medical and weekly WorkCover payments.
The three day hearing this month revolved around the question of whether Hosny’s dishonesty rendered him unreliable in accounting his current capacity to work.
Now living in public housing, Hosny says he still suffers panic attacks and nightmares, continues to see his psychiatrist and is taking a suite of medications.
Magistrate Phillip Ginnane said he “was not impressed” by Hosny who had lied about his ability to work on numerous occasions to numerous people, including his GP and psychiatrist, over extended periods of time.
However, he said this did not mean Hosny’s evidence should be totally discarded.
And despite the “substantially contradictory opinions as to (Hosny’s) current condition”, Magistrate Ginnane accepted Hosny was sufficiently disabled by PTSD that he was likely to continue indefinitely to have no capacity to work and so, should have his weekly WorkCover payments restored.
“It is difficult to reject the notion that had (Hosny) not engaged in his previous dishonesty that he would have been highly unlikely to have been met by the notice of termination,” he said.