It is an interesting question what exactly voids consent for sexual intercourse.
Clearly if the nature of the act is disguised -- say there is a claim this act is a medical procedure (sounds crazy but such cases have occured) -- there is no valid consent.
But what if someone misleads their partner as to, say, job status ("I'm a doctor") or marital status ("I'm separated")?
Neither of those falsehoods goes to the nature of the act and so are generally not taken to void consent.
HIV status?
That does not go to the nature of the act but it certainly changes the risks involved.
Regardless, to have unprotected sex knowingly with a positive HIV status is a very wicked act.
Crown says women's consent void in HIV trial
Jurors heard opening arguments Monday in the landmark trial of an HIV-positive man, accused of first-degree murder in the deaths of two women he allegedly had unprotected sex with.
It is the first time an HIV case has led to murder charges.
The Crown prosecutor said Johnson Aziga, 52, first learned he was HIV positive in 1997 but continued to have unprotected sex without disclosing his condition to his partners.
Aziga was first arrested and charged with 11 counts of aggravated sexual assault in 2003.
He was accused of having unprotected sex with at least 11 women without disclosing his HIV-positive health status.
However, two of those charges were elevated to first-degree murder after two of the 11 women later died from an HIV-related cancers-- one in December 2003 and the other in May 2004.
The two women he is accused of killing were from Toronto. For the first time ever, the jury will be able to hear from the murder victims. In the weeks before they died they recorded their testimony -- one on videotape, the other on audiotape.
Of the remaining nine women, five of them have contracted HIV.
"One may immediately think of a violent rape scenario," prosecutor Tim Power told the jury. "That is not what this case is all about."
Even though the sex between the man and the women was consensual, prosecutors said in fact, the women's consent is void because they didn't know they were having intercourse with someone who is HIV positive.
Davies Bagambiire, Aziga's lawyer, told reporters outside the courtroom that he plans to challenge "each and every aspect" of the allegations.
Full story here:
http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/Home/ContentPosting?newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20081020%2fHIV_trial_081020&feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=True
1 comment:
This is a difficult case that I'll follow with great interest. It is certainly getting a lot of media attention. I hope it will also reinforce that people must stop engaging in unprotected sex with partners whose medical history they don't know. The risk is just too high.
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