HIV positive woman who jabbed boy with needle jailed
An HIV positive woman who jabbed a 12-year-old boy with a needle filled with infected bodily fluids has been jailed for 16 months.
X pricked the youngster after he flushed a foil wrap containing heroin down her toilet.
The boy had turned up at the 32-year-old’s Dundee home with one of her relatives.
X maintained she had not meant to harm the boy, who suffered no long-term ill-effects.
The court had earlier heard the boy describe how he discovered X clearly under the influence of drugs and surrounded by drug paraphernalia in her living room with a syringe stuck in her leg.
Giving evidence through a CCTV link, the boy said he had flushed the foil wrap down the toilet.
He said: “She tried to slap it out of my hand.
“There was a needle sitting on a pillowcase and when I came back in she started waving it at me.
“It hit me on the hand.”
Assaulted in street
The boy said it had gone in so deep he had to physically extract it himself before leaving.
X claimed that she had been trying to protect the boy when he was stuck by the needle.
The court was told that the boy had suffered no ill-effects as a result of the incident and had not become infected.
X admitted culpable and reckless conduct and a further charge of assault.
Defence solicitor Gary McIlravey said: “The public perception of her is she is some kind of monster.
“She was assaulted in the street by two women – she is easily recognisable.
“The stigma of this offence will stay with her for some considerable time.”
Sheriff Lorna Drummond QC told X: “You put the boy’s health at risk by your reckless conduct.
“You disputed how he came to have this puncture wound, but I had no difficulty believing him over you.”
Woman with HIV who deliberately jabbed 12-year-old boy with needle of body fluids is now behind bars
X was arrested on Wednesday after failing to turn up in court, where she was then told she “culpably and recklessly” pricked the youngster
A HIV positive woman who jabbed a 12-year-old boy with a needle filled with infected bodily fluids after the victim flushed her drugs stash down the toilet is now behind bars.
A court heard how X “culpably and recklessly” pricked the youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
She used an uncapped needle to pierce the boy at her home in Dundee.
Police officers arrested her on Wednesday after she failed to turn up to face sentence over the charge.
Her lawyer told the court that she had missed two appointments with social workers preparing reports in the case because she had fled her house after reading social media comments about the case.
Solicitor Ross Donnelly said she was “alarmed at the threat of danger to her person” – so abandoned her property.
X then failed to turn up at her last court date because she feared being locked up.
Now she is behind bars to await sentence after a sheriff told her that she had to be kept in prison to ensure her compliance.
As wheelchair bound X was taken to the cells she shouted out: “It’s not fair.”
Dundee Sheriff Court earlier heard the boy had turned up at X’s address with one of X’s relatives.
The lad gave evidence at a proof in mitigation hearing to establish the exact circumstances of the incident.
He told the court X was clearly under the influence of drugs and was surrounded by drug paraphernalia when he found her in the living room with a syringe stuck in her leg.
X, giving evidence herself, admitted she had taken heroin but claimed the boy had “totally fabricated” the circumstances leading up to him being pricked and branded him a “liar”.
Giving evidence through a CCTV link, the boy said he had taken a foil wrap containing heroin and had flushed it down the toilet.
He said: “She tried to slap it out of my hand. There was a needle sitting on a pillowcase and when I came back in she started waving at me. It hit me on the hand.”
The boy said it had gone in so deep he had to physically extract it himself before leaving.
X claimed that she had been trying to protect the boy when he was stuck by the needle.
In her version of events X claimed the boy had been handed the needle by the other adult and that she was trying to take it from him when he was stuck.
Fiscal depute Saima Rasheed asked: “His position is that there was a syringe in your thigh and the barrel was full of blood.
“He saw a wrap, thought it contained heroin and went to flush it down the toilet.
“You tried to take it from his hand.
“He managed to flush it and on his way back you were waving a needle about.
“He tried to get out while you were waving it and struck him, so much so that he had to pull it out.
X said: “That’s fabricated – he is lying.”
But a sheriff ruled the boy’s version was true – and said X was “not credible”.
Miss Rasheed said the boy had suffered no ill-effects as a result of the incident and had not become infected.
X, 32, of Gourdie Place, Dundee, pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge of culpable and reckless conduct and a further charge of assault.
Defence solicitor Ross Donnelly said: “The case was reported in the Press and was subject to comment on social media platforms.
“As a result she became so alarmed at the threat of danger to her person that she did not return to her address.
“She didn’t get the letters about the social work appointments and, knowing she had missed appointments, and fearing she would be remanded in custody, she simply did not attend court.”
Sheriff James Tierney today deferred sentence until next month for social work background reports and remanded X in custody meantime.
He said: “You failed to turn up to two appointments and knowing that you failed to turn up to court. You will be remanded in custody.”
HIV sufferer caused child to be pricked with needle
HIV sufferer caused child to be pricked with needle, b
A woman with HIV caused a child to be pricked with a needle and syringe containing her bodily fluid.
At Dundee Sheriff Court, X, 33, admitted a charge of culpable and reckless conduct.
She admitted struggling with a child and causing the child to be struck by a needle and syringe containing her bodily fluid, while knowing she had HIV.
X admitted pushing and pulling a child and causing the needle to puncture the child’s skin, to their injury and to the danger of their health and wellbeing.
The child is now undergoing a series of tests to establish if they have contracted HIV.
X told the court through her solicitor that she was attempting to take the needle away from the child but the Crown claims she was waving the needle around and the child was struck.
Fiscal depute Saima Rasheed said: “The accused was heavily under the influence of something and she was waving the needle about when it struck the child on the hand.”
Solicitor Gary McIlravey, defending, contested the Crown’s version of events on behalf of X.
He said: “She accepts there was a struggle and during that at some point the child became pricked by the needle but she doesn’t know when that happened because the child did not say they had been pricked until after she removed her hands.
The court heard the chain of events took place on July 27.
Mr McIlravey said X had been sat with drugs next to her.
He added: “The child saw the drugs and took them to the bathroom and disposed of them by flushing them down the toilet.
“The child then went back to the living room and the woman picked up a pillow case with a capped needle inside it.”
Mr McIlravey said the child asked what it was and was handed the needle and a struggle ensued between the child and X.
X claims she removed her hands and it was at that point the child said he had been pricked, but the Crown insisted she was waving the needle around rather than trying to take it off the child.
A notional trial was set for September 5 to debate how the child became struck.
