A 43 year-old man from Wallasey in Merseyside was sentenced to two and half years in prison last week after pleading guilty to reckless HIV transmission at Liverpool Crown Court.
The man, whose name and address was printed in the Liverpool Echo – the only newspaper so far to cover the story – pleaded guilty to infecting a 49-year-old Wallasey woman after having unprotected sex with her during an eight month relationship without disclosing that he was HIV-positive. According to the newspaper report the defendant loved the woman and planned to propose to her, but a criminal investigation began after personal papers belonging to the defendant were seen by members of the woman’s family at her flat, and she was subsequently diagnosed HIV-positive.
However, information in the newspaper report suggests that both parties suffer from major mental health problems, and there are several important inconsistencies in the case regarding how the defendant was infected, and why the woman he allegedly infected is already on antiretroviral therapy.
The newspaper reported that the woman had “serious psychiatric problems and had never had a sexual partner” before she met the defendant in February 2005.
The woman’s brother told the newspaper that she is already on antiretroviral therapy, and alleged that she “take[s] 17 pills a day,” an unusually high number for anyone who has recently begun antiretroviral therapy.
The report in the Liverpool Echo notes that the defendant “suffers from post traumatic stress syndrome following horrific scenes he witnessed during military service in Bosnia and had been in denial of his illness.”
In addition, the newspaper reports that the defendant’s lawyer told the court that he “believed he had probably contracted the disease after administering the kiss of life to the victim of an attack while working as a warden for Wirral Council.” No case of HIV transmission through this route has ever been recorded, and had the defendant offered this explanation at the time of diagnosis it is likely that the case would have been intensively investigated and reported in a medical journal due to its rarity and public health implications.
A spokesperson for the main HIV charity in the North-West of England, George House Trust, said: “It unfortunately looks like the man may be struggling to come to terms with his own diagnosis because he appears to be in denial about how he came to become infected himself.”
Judge Brian Lewis was reported to have said during sentencing that "[his mental health problems are] absolutely no excuse for the arrogant selfishness [he] displayed years later."
However the guilty plea advised by the defendant’s legal representative was criticised by George House Trust.
The recent ‘not guilty’ verdict in Kingston highlighted that the only way that HIV transmission can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt is when rigorous scientific evidence backs up other circumstantial evidence.
But guilty pleas at the earliest opportunity in such cases are encouraged by the legal system, which rewards defendants with shorter sentences for admissions of guilt.
The cases also highlights the lack of knowledge among solicitors regarding HIV transmission and other basic facts concerning HIV disease, leading to poor advice to the client, and subsequently, a questionable legal decision and another unfortunate precedent.