UK News

Manchester HIV prosecution dismissed but more on way

Prosecutions against HIV positive defendants for recklessly passing on the virus are continuing across the country, it emerged this month, despite some recent successes in court.

The prosecution of a 39-year-old African man in Manchester for grievous bodily harm for reckless transmission of HIV was dismissed last month after it emerged that the complainant had several other sexual partners in the months before her HIV diagnosis.

Judge Martin Rudland dismissed the case on the ground of insufficient evidence at Manchester Crown Court. “The more the arguments have unfolded,” Judge Rudland told the court, “the more I’ve become alive to the prospect of an injustice.”

“I suspect the defendant probably infected the complainant but that is a long way short of what the prosecution need to prove.”
Freeing the man, the judge told him: “You are still HIV positive. You still have clear obligations to those with whom you have sexual relations. You are likely to be a defendant in criminal proceedings if you do not behave.”

Last year a case against a gay man for reckless HIV transmission was dismissed at Preston Crown Court after other sexual partners of
the complainant refused to give blood samples for testing.

And in August 2006 the case against another gay man was dismissed at Kingston Crown Court after it was shown that genetic evidence could not definitely prove the defendant infected the complainant.
Meanwhile it became clear in a ruling from another court that non disclosure of HIV status before sex may be considered a relevant factor in sentencing.

The Court of Appeal last December quashed a life sentence of a man convicted of causing grievous bodily harm on another man after they had sex together.

It became clear during the appeal that the man attacked only revealed his HIV positive status after sex and then the other man attacked him, leaving him unconscious and bleeding. He then stole property and drove off in the wounded HIV positive man’s car.

The Appeal Court allowed the appeal after the defendant’s barrister argued that the HIV positive man had concealed his status and it was the deception which caused his client to react in the way he did. Non disclosure of HIV stats before sex took place was serious provocation, the defence said.

Despite granting the appeal against the life sentence, the judges gave 26-year-old David Summers an indeterminate prison sentence which in practical terms makes little difference to how long he spends in jail. Meanwhile, Lisa Power, policy director at the Terrence Higgins Trust, told PN that other prosecutions for grievous bodily harm are pending against HIV positive people across the country.

At least two cases against heterosexuals are in preliminary stages and a recent set of charges against another gay man is highly likely to end in court.

Despite meetings with HIV campaign groups the Crown Prosecution Service appears to be going full steam ahead with prosecutions of HIV positive people for grievous bodily harm for so-called reckless ransmission of the virus.

The best advice we can give to our readers to avoid prosecution is not only to disclose your HIV positive status before any sexual activity takes place but also to insist on the use of condoms in advance.