Intentional spreading of AIDS

[A Karenina]

I recently discovered that a friend of mine is HIV-positive. Without going into a lot of detail, it appears that my friend caught it from a person who KNEW he had it. I just about hit the floor in shock when I heard that.

What kind of person intentionally infects other people with a lethal disease???

But what I really want to discuss is what can society do about these people? I don't know how "common" this is, how often it happens, etc.
But isn't it just a matter of time before someone sues, declaring that this is attempted murder, if not outright murder? Is it possible to file civil suits over this? Does anyone think this might someday become a criminal offense?

[Lon]

I agree. Intentionally spreading AIDS (if proven) should be treated the same as vehicular manslaughter, assualt with a deadly weapon etc.

[persephone]

Someone here just got done for it... I'll find the details and post them, unless someone beats me to it *looks to Bill*

[persephone]

Found it already, just can't find anymore other than he pleded not guilty.

Man 'recklessly' gave women HIV
A man "recklessly" infected two women with HIV while they were unaware he had the virus, a court has been told.
Inner London Crown Court heard Mohammed Dica, 37, went on to have unprotected sex with the second woman after the first told him he had infected her.

Kenyan-born Mr Dica, from Mitcham, south-west London, denies two counts of 'biological' grievous bodily harm.

He is accused of infecting the women between 1997-1998 and in 2001 in the ongoing trial.

On the first day of the trial Mark Gadsden prosecuting told the court Mr Dica told the first woman, whom he met in 1996, that she could not become pregnant as he had had a vasectomy.


The women will each say if he had told us he was HIV positive then we would never have considered having unprotected sex with him
Mark Gadsden prosecuting

The woman, originally from Somalia, discovered his lie when she fell pregnant in 1998, Mr Gadsden said.

She had an abortion after being diagnosed with HIV.

The court was told Mr Dica said he could not have the "homosexual disease" as he "was not gay" when the woman confronted him. Their relationship ended soon after.

Mr Gadsden said Mr Dica would say in his defence that he told the woman he had HIV and she replied that she thought she was already infected.

The court was told the defendant met the second woman, a mother-of-two, in a south London nightclub in 2000.

'Bodily harm'

The woman left her long-term and only sexual partner for Mr Dica, who allegedly persuaded her to have sex without condoms by saying he did not like them.

Mr Dica was said to be "shocked" when the woman told him she had HIV.

The prosecution said he would say he had a one-night stand with her in 1994 - the year before he was diagnosed with HIV.

Mr Gadsden described passing on HIV as "the most serious form of bodily harm" because it is "life-threatening" and has "no known cure".

He told the jury: "They (the women) will each say to you if he had told us the truth and told us he was HIV positive then of course we would never have considered having unprotected sex with him."

The case was adjourned until Tuesday.


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...on/3826815.stm

Published: 2004/06/21 18:23:40 GMT

© BBC MMIV

[lady cop]

it's attempted murder in my venue. as it should be, we have had to lock up known prostitutes for this.

[koan]

The only thing that I can think of to help prevent this would be mandatory counselling for anyone who is diagnosed. It is hard to come up with an answer that wouldn't further punish the people who contract HIV and do not cause harm, but counselling would be helpful to everyone in this condition and might help identify people who are not coping.

[persephone]

The conclusion to the above story, GBH isn't much but at least it sets a president so you'd hope it will continue, and notice there is a genetic test that can show that at least the virus is the same strain, without having the medical evidence myself, I would guess gives a high chance that it came from the same person.

R v MOHAMMED DICA
3 November 2003
Mohammed Dica was today sentenced at Inner London Crown Court as the first person in 137 years to have been convicted of deliberately transmitting a disease.

At the trial last month, the court heard that Dica, 38, a married father of three, knowingly infected two lovers with the HIV virus.

Crown Prosecutor, René Barclay, head of CPS London’s Serious Casework Sector, said: “This was a ground-breaking prosecution, which was the result of a massive team effort. The implications are that in the future people who are reckless in this way will be vigorously prosecuted.”

The defendant from Mitcham, South London, denied the offences, which took place between 1997 and 2000. He told police both women had known about his condition. The jury took three hours and 45 minutes to find him guilty of what the prosecution termed ‘biological grievous bodily harm’.

Dica was charged with two counts of causing grievous bodily harm under the Offences Against the person Act. Crown Prosecutor Michael Jennings, who reviewed the case, said: “The prosecution was based on what happened to Mohammed Dica’s victims as a result of his actions.”

The decision to prosecute followed legal research by CPS London into the case, which suggested that while it was not an offence as such to infect someone with HIV or other viruses and diseases, existing legislation might be sufficient to bring a prosecution on the facts of this case. The prosecution initially went ahead on the strength of the two victims’ evidence and their personal backgrounds. Both had been involved in long-term relationships with partners who did not have HIV. But what proved crucial to obtaining a conviction was the medical and scientific evidence.

The key to linking Dica with his victims lay in finding a virologist, an expert in the study of viruses. The prosecution scoured Britain before they located Professor Peter Simmonds at Edinburgh University who agreed to run the tests.

Two lots of blood samples had to be transported to Edinburgh within 24 hours of being taken from the defendant and victims’ bodies on the same day. A specialist courier company, accompanied by police officers, had to be employed.

Two different types of tests, involving gene sequencing and genetic finger printing, took ten weeks to complete. The first test was done manually and to ensure it was correct, it was re-done a thousand times on a computer - a process known as “bootstrapping”. The tests proved that all three shared the same strain, sub-type A, a sub-Saharan strain.
Story from Crown Prosecution Service

[weeder]

iVE LOST MANY FRIENDS AND ACQUANTINCES TO AIDS OVER THE PAST 20 YEARS.
iT IS MAY UNDERSTANDING THAT THERE ARE LEGAL CONSEQUENCES FOR PEOPLE WHO KNOWINGLY INFECT OTHERS. IMAGINING IT HAPPENING TO ME HAS KEPT ME
VERY DISCERNING REGARDING INTIMATE CONTACT WITH OTHERS. IT IS A HUGE
CRISIS. LAWS CANT PROTECT US FROM HUMANS WITH CRUEL INTENT . I AM SO SORRY FOR YOUR DEVASTATING NEWS.

[persephone]

Originally Posted by Weeder

LAWS CANT PROTECT US FROM HUMANS WITH CRUEL INTENT

No, but there is part of human nature that wants revenge, or at least some sort of justice which, I guess is what starts it all in the first place.

If a person knowingly infects another with HIV then that is murder... Okay the person isn't dead, and may live a fairly long life and "normal", but it is a death sentence that they know is there and they will soon learn how hard it is to live with it, so maybe not so "normal".

[weeder]

Revenge.....is not a part of normal human nature. It is contained in a small sick part of the human race. Thank God!!! The very young, and the naive do not have enough living under their belts to recognize the vengful immediately. That is why
{ although it might be uncomfortable at times...} we have a responsibility to
look out for each other. Elders, though often laughed at... are on this earth to
guide the young. Aids is such a horiffic illness that many people seem to be in denial regarding its very existence. Those of us who have experienced its reality,
have a responsibility to let others know.....It truly is out there, some times disguised and often hidden.