|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You Are
Here: |
World News|
Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - Web posted at 7:06:55 GMT HIV carrier guilty of infecting lovers SUE LEEMANLONDON - When he chatted up women, tall, well-dressed Mohammed Dica pretended to be a lawyer and a veteran of the 1991 Persian Gulf war. |
|
But his bravado hid a terrible secret - he was HIV positive. The 38-year-old was convicted yesterday on two counts of causing grievous bodily harm by "coldly and callously" infecting two lovers with the virus that leads to AIDS. The case is the first time in more than a century that someone has been successfully prosecuted in England and Wales for passing on a sexually transmitted disease. Dica, from Mitcham, south of London, denied the charges, claiming both women had known of his condition before sleeping with him. But prosecutors told the Inner London Crown Court that he conned his first victim into having unprotected sex by claiming he had had a vasectomy and wooed the second, a mother of two, with declarations of love. The second woman sobbed in court as the jury of six men and six women gave their decision. Refusing Dica's application for bail, Judge Nicholas Philpot said: "If I had to sentence him today there would be no doubt he would be going to prison and for a long time". He ordered Dica to return to court on November 3 for the presentation of reports on sentencing. In 1866, a defendant called Bennett was convicted of indecent assault after infecting his niece with gonorrhoea. In 1888, a jury at London's Old Bailey court found a man named Clarence guilty of grievous and actual bodily harm for giving his wife the same disease. In March 2001, a court in Scotland - which has a different legal system - found Stephen Kelly guilty of "reckless conduct" for passing HIV to his wife. - Nampa-AP |
|
||||
PO Box 20783 - Windhoek - 42 John Meinert Street Tel: +264 (61) 279600 - Fax: +264 (61) 279602
|
