HIV 'ambush' nets 6 1/2-year term
An HIV-positive Winnipeg man has been given just short of the maximum sentence allowed by law for spitting bloody saliva in the face of a police officer. X, 44, was convicted of attempted aggravated assault following a lengthy legal battle that has spanned several years. He returned to court Monday to learn his fate.
“This was a premeditated ambush on a police officer,” Queen’s Bench Justice Deborah McCawley said in handing down a 6 1/2 -year sentence, the highest she could have given under the Criminal Code was seven years.
X first went on trial in 2012, where he was found not guilty of the original charge of aggravated assault and guilty of just simple assault after a judge ruled there was no significant risk of harm to the victim. But the Manitoba Court of Appeal overturned that decision in 2013 and replaced it with a conviction of attempted aggravated assault, saying the trial judge didn’t properly weigh the key medical evidence.
X was arrested in August 2009 after stealing some computer discs from a Main Street store. The incident took a more sinister turn when X told the arresting officer about his potentially life-threatening medical condition and then spat directly at him. X even hid behind the door of the interview room before launching the deliberate attack.
The officer was hit in the eye with bloody saliva and had to undergo medical treatment that included a cocktail of anti-retroviral drugs. He suffered no injury and has been given a clean bill of health, court was told.
X is currently serving a six-year prison term for aggravated sexual assault as a result of infecting a teen girl with HIV during consensual sexual intercourse. The penalty handed down Monday will be added to that existing term, meaning X faces a long future behind bars.
“I would never do anything to harm anyone with (HIV). In a way I was glad I have it ‘cuz the cops won’t beat me up no more,” X said Monday in court when asked if he had any comments prior to being sentenced. McCawley said those words show X continues to harbour resentment towards police.
X has a background that has seen him spend much of his adult life in custody. He was also abandoned by his birth mother as a child and bounced around various placements before ultimately living on the streets, court was told. X first learned he had HIV in May 2007 and was being treated with medication at the time of the incident.
“When offenders try to inflict harm on us we look to the police to protect us, to keep us safe. The police look to the justice system for exactly the same protection when they are victimized,” Crown attorney Ami Kotler said Monday in requesting the maximum sentence for X.
Victory seen in case of HIV-positive man who spat at cop
MANITOBA justice officials have scored a significant legal victory in the case against an HIV-positive Winnipeg man who spat bloody saliva in the face of a police officer. CB, 43, was found not guilty of aggravated assault last year by a judge who ruled there was no significant risk of harm to the victim.
Now the Manitoba Court of Appeal has overturned that decision and replaced it with a conviction, saying the trial judge didn’t properly weigh the key medical evidence. “This appeal once again raises the difficult question of when an HIV-positive accused will be criminally liable for exposing another individual to a risk of transmission of the virus, albeit by way of spitting as opposed to sexual relations,” Justice Freda Steel wrote in the 33-page decision released Monday.
B will now have to return to court to be sentenced for aggravated assault. He was initially found guilty of the lesser charge of simple assault for the act and was given a 20-month sentence. The Crown will seek a much longer penalty now the high court has restored the original charge. “He intentionally ambushed the police officer and spat in his face,” Steel wrote, noting B even hid behind the door of the interview room before launching the deliberate attack.
B was arrested in August 2009 after stealing some computer discs from a Main Street store. The incident took a more sinister turn when B told the arresting officer about his potentially life-threatening medical condition and then spat directly at him. The officer was hit in the eye with bloody saliva and had to undergo medical treatment that included a cocktail of anti-retroviral drugs. He suffered no injury and has been given a clean bill of health, court was told.
A charge of aggravated assault requires proof that a person “wounds, maims, disfigures or endangers the life of the complainant,” according to the Criminal Code. “The best evidence available… is that the risk of transmission was low to negligible,” Queen’s Bench Justice Deborah McCawley said in her original verdict, which has now been overturned.
The Crown argued B should be found guilty because of his reckless and deliberate actions. They called an expert witness during the trial who testified about the risks of HIV infection caused by spitting. Defence lawyer Ed Murphy has successfully countered there was sufficient doubt about whether the officer was ever in jeopardy of contracting HIV based on his exposure to B’s saliva. B first learned he had HIV in May 2007 and was being treated with medication at the time of the incident, court was told.
There was plenty of medical evidence called during the trial, including specific readings of B’s “viral load,” which showed a low rate of infection. But the Appeal Court now says there was sufficient evidence to convict B of the aggravated assault charge.
