[Update] Italy: Second appeal trial upholds 24 years sentence for alleged HIV transmission

 

 

Appeal lost

24-yr term for infecting 30 women with HIV upheld

October 19, 2020
Source: ANSA

(ANSA) – ROME, OCT 19 – A HIV-positive Italian man on Monday saw his 24-year jail term for deliberately infecting some 30 Roman young women with HIV upheld in a second appeals trial.
V.T. was again found guilty of grievous bodily harm.
The supreme Court of Cassation sent the case back to the appeals stage last October after T. was acquitted on four counts at a first appeal and the women appealed.
He has now been found guilty on all counts, as in the first-instance trial in October 2017. (ANSA).

Other

V.T., HIV hunter: Cassation confirms new appeal process looking at stricter penalty than that imposed so far

October 31, 2019
Source: ilsussidiario.net
Google translation, for Italian article scroll down

The Court of Cassation expressed itself today on the case of V.T, the HIV offender sentenced to 22 years in the second degree, considering him responsible for the crime of very serious injuries after having infected dozens of partners despite being aware of it, but keeping silent about his condition. Not only that, the same judges have also charged the defendant with a second Appeal, as requested by the prosecutor during his indictment, to assess a more severe sentence than that pronounced against him by the Court of Assizes of Appeal of Rome last December. The reference to the request for the reconsideration of the penalty upward is to the four cases of contagion. As Tgcom24 explains, however, the appeal presented by the Rome prosecutor’s office in the part in which it advanced the sentence for the crime of a malicious epidemic was rejected. T. is thus preparing to face a new second degree process. In the past, the prosecutor had requested 30 years of imprisonment against him. (Update by Emanuela Longo)

V.T., the 35-year-old man convicted on appeal at the age of 22 (with two years of confrontation with respect to the first degree) on the charge of having infected 32 partners in Rome and for this reason renamed ‘HIV hunter’, could face a new trial. This is the request made today by the general prosecutor of the Court of Cassation, Pasquale Fimiani, as explained by TgCom24, who made the request for a second appeal against T.. The man had kept quiet about his HIV status with the women with whom he had relationships, although aware of the risks. According to the prosecution, however, the penalty should be increased and to this end he asked during his indictment that the cases so far deemed uncertain as well as the accusation of forgery are also disputed. According to the attorney general, therefore, the sentence imposed in the first appeal to T. would have to be recalculated but raised and for this reason he urged the annulment with postponement – limited to some specific points – of the sentence of the Court of Assizes of Appeal of Rome .

The Prosecutor of the Court of Cassation Pasquale Fimiani, today recognized the responsibility V.T. for the crime of very serious injuries but at the same time he asked for a new trial, advancing the possibility of a new Appeal which, according to him, will have to reconsider the acquittal on appeal of the defendant from 4 episodes that had been contested and that for this led to a reduction of the sentence compared to the first degree. The defendant would never have made any sign of repentance. T. infected 32 people and had a total of 200 unprotected relationships over 9 years. He knew he had been HIV positive since 2006 and knew the cautions he should have taken in the course of various relationships but nevertheless he never made his partners aware of this. In 25, they entered into civil proceedings during the trial. The decision is expected today.


V.T., untore Hiv: Cassazione conferma nuovo processo d’Appello con pena più severa rispetto a quella finora inflitta

La Cassazione si è espressa oggi sul caso di V.T., l’untore Hiv condannato a 22 anni in secondo grado, ritenendolo il responsabile del reato di lesioni gravissime dopo aver contagiato decine di partner pur essendone consapevole, ma tacendo sulla sua condizione. Non solo, gli stessi ermellini hanno anche disposto a carico dell’imputato un Appello-bis, come richiesto dal pg nel corso della sua requisitoria, per valutare una pena più severa rispetto a quella pronunciata nei suoi confronti dalla Corte d’Assise d’Appello di Roma nel dicembre scorso. Il riferimento alla richiesta della riconsiderazione della pena al rialzo è ai quattro casi di contagio. Come spiega Tgcom24, però, è stato respinto il ricorso presentato dalla procura di Roma nella parte in cui avanzava la richiesta di condanna per il reato di epidemia dolosa. T. si prepara così ad affrontare un nuovo processo di secondo grado. In passato, il pg aveva chiesto 30 anni di reclusione a suo carico. (Aggiornamento di Emanuela Longo)

V.T., l’uomo 35enne condannato in Appello a 22 anni (con due anni di scontro rispetto al primo grado) con l’accusa di aver contagiato a Roma 32 partner e per questo ribattezzato ‘untore Hiv’, potrebbe affrontare un nuovo processo di secondo grado. E’ questa la richiesta avanzata oggi dal procuratore generale della cassazione, Pasquale Fimiani, come spiega TgCom24, il quale ha avanzato la richiesta di un Appello-bis per T. L’uomo aveva taciuto sulla sua sieropositività con le donne con le quali ha avuto rapporti, pur consapevole dei rischi. Secondo il Pg, però, la pena andrebbe aumentata e a tal fine ha chiesto nel corso della sua requisitoria che vengano contestati anche i casi finora ritenuti incerti nonché l’accusa di falso. Per il procuratore generale, dunque, la condanna inflitta nel primo Appello a T. sarebbe da ricalcolare ma al rialzo e per questo ha sollecitato l’annullamento con rinvio – limitatamente ad alcuni punti specifici – della sentenza della Corte d’assise d’appello di Roma.

Il pg della Cassazione Pasquale Fimiani, ha riconosciuto oggi la responsabilità dell’untore Hiv, V.T. per il reato di lesioni gravissime ma ha chiesto al tempo stesso un nuovo processo, avanzando la possibilità di un nuovo Appello-bis che, a suo dire, dovrà riconsiderare l’assoluzione in appello dell’imputato da 4 episodi che gli erano stati contestati e che per questo portarono ad una riduzione della pena rispetto al primo grado. L’imputato inoltre non avrebbe mai avanzato alcun segno di pentimento. T. contagiò 32 persone ed ebbe in tutto 200 rapporti non protetti nell’arco di 9 anni. Sapeva di essere sieropositivo dal 2006 e sapeva le cautele che avrebbe dovuto adottare nel corso dei vari rapporti ma nonostante questo non mise mai i suoi partner al corrente di ciò. In 25 si sono costituiti parte civile nel corso del processo. La decisione è attesa nella serata odierna.

Appeal

22-year term for man who spread HIV

December 10, 2018
Source: Ansa

Two-year reduction for man accused of infecting 32 people

(ANSA) – Rome, December 11 – Rome’s appeal court on Tuesday gave X, a man accused of infecting 32 people with HIV, a prison term of 22 years. The sentence was two years shorter than the one handed down at the first-instance trial.

The appeals court ruled that in four cases there were doubts about whether X had committed the crime.

Sentencing

Italian man who intentionally infected more than 30 women with HIV jailed

October 27, 2018
Source: the Independent

‘His actions were intended to sow death,’ prosecutor says

An Italian man has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for intentionally infecting more than 30 women with HIV.

Police believe 33-year-old accountant X infected 32 of the at least 53 women he dated after discovering he was HIV-positive in 2006 and continuing to have unprotected sex.

Women who testified at X’s trial described being seduced, often after meeting on social media, and then being convinced to have unprotected sex. They recounted X saying he was allergic to condoms or had tested negative for HIV, according to AFP.

The prosecution and defence clashed over whether X had deliberately infected his partners, with X’s attorney saying he “did not intentionally seek to transmit the virus”.

X himself reportedly said he did not mean to hurt the women, many of whom “know my friends and family”.

But prosecutors argued that he denied responsibility and sought to inflict harm.

“His actions were intended to sow death,” prosecutor Elena Neri was quoted as telling the court last month.

Judges reportedly deliberated for more than ten hours before announcing their verdict, which fell short of the life sentence prosecutors had sought

 

 

Trial

Life sentence asked for Italian who "knowingly infected women with HIV"

October 18, 2018
Source: XinhuaNet

ROME, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) — Rome prosecutors have requested a life sentence for an HIV-positive man who knowingly infected 30 women through unprotected sex, local media reported Wednesday.

Prosecutors also asked he should be placed in daytime solitary confinement for two years.

Rome native V.T., 32, is charged with malicious epidemic and aggravated bodily harm for knowingly infecting the women with the virus from when he discovered he was HIV positive in April 2006 through Nov. 23, 2015, the day prior to his arrest, Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Intentionally causing an epidemic by spreading a pathogen is punishable with life in prison in the Italian criminal code.

T. has reportedly plead ignorance of the risks of HIV infection. The man, who met most of his alleged victims online, is also charged with the secondary infection of an eight-month-old baby, who was born with brain damage “caused by the HIV-positive state contracted from the mother during birth”, according to prosecution papers cited by ANSA.

Investigators have discovered a total of 57 incidents of unprotected sex, but believe T. may have directly or indirectly infected more people who have not turned to authorities, according to ANSA.