Australian court jails HIV+ man for having unprotected sex

MELBOURNE, Australia — An HIV-positive man who admitted to keeping his status secret and having unprotected sex with a woman has been jailed for two years by a court in the south-eastern Australian city of Melbourne.

The 52-year-old, who cannot be named, pleaded guilty to a charge of recklessly engaging in sexual activity that placed a woman in danger of serious injury, 774 ABC Melbourne reported.

The two had unprotected sex in 2007, shortly after which she was diagnosed as being HIV positive.

The Herald Sun newspaper quotes from the woman's victim impact statement, in which she described being "violated to the core'' and robbed of her dream of finding a partner and settling down.

"Who would want me now?'' she is reported to have asked.

The judge said the accused had commited a serious offence that had caused the victim serious anguish. 

He said it was probable the man infected the woman, but not beyond reasonable doubt, and agreed to take the man's remorse and empathy for the victim into account in sentencing.  He set a non-parole period of nine months.

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The ruling comes just two day after an HIV-positive man in  Toronto, Canada was found guilty of endangering his mistress’ life through unprotected sex and was sentenced to two years less a day in prison.

The Toronto Sun reports that the accused, Gregory Thomas (51), originally from Granada, had a five-year relationship with the victim starting in 2002.

She later developped aids and the court ruled that there was no doubt Thomas was the source of the victim’s HIV infection.  

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