Tables turned in deliberate HIV transmission case
The 48-year-old Harare man who took his lover to court on accusations of deliberately infecting him with HIV, allegedly wilfully removed protection during intimacy, the State has said.
Mr Michael Reza yesterday told the court that the man, from Belvedere, removed the protection after his lover had initially put it on the day he alleges to have been infected.
He said this while justifying why the State had consented to granting bail to the 32-year-old woman, who is being charged with deliberate transmission of HIV.
“I consented to the admission of bail in the charge of deliberate transmission of HIV. The accused is a suitable candidate for bail,” he said.
“The facts of the matter were that accused and complainant were in a love relationship.”
He said they had been intimate on several occasions, with protection and none of them knew their HIV status.
Mr Reza said at some point, the two went for testing and accused tested positive while the complainant came out negative.
“Deliberate transmission of HIV can only be proved if accused knew his or her status and if she did not, there cannot be reason of being found guilty,” he said.
Mr Reza told the court that he would not have agreed to have her charged had it not been that State papers indicated that the man had been tested two weeks prior to the date of infection.
“But there is what is called window period and because of that I said let us place her on remand. There is no reason why she cannot be admitted on bail,” he said.
Mr Reza said the man visited him twice in his office in a bid to influence him not to consent to her bail, and said he did not take instructions from complainants.
Magistrate Mr Dennis Mangosi said Mr Reza’s explanation “was well-founded” and released the woman on $10 000 bail and ordered her to report once a week at Chitungwiza Police Station.
Mr Mangosi ordered her to return to court on May 17.
Appearing for the State, Mr Lancelot Mutsokoti had it that the two were intimate for the first time on Valentines’ Day this year.
The court heard that the man asked his lover to go for HIV tests but the woman promised to bring self-test kits the next time they were meeting.
The woman is said to have failed to take the HIV self-test kits despite her lover insisting they should get tested.
It is said the woman told her lover that she was negative as she usually tests herself since easily accesses the test kits at her workplace.
It is said the man had tested negative for HIV a fortnight before they started being intimate.
Mr Mangosi heard that the two later went for HIV testing where the woman tested positive while the man was negative.
Irked by the results, the man lodged a complaint with the police claiming he had been deliberately infected with HIV.
A 48-year-old Harare man yesterday took his lover to court on allegations of deliberately infecting him with HIV after having consensual intimacy on the promise that he was going to marry her.
The man, from Belvedere in Harare, whose name has been withheld for legal reasons, dragged his 32-year-old lover to the Harare Magistrates Court on accusations of infecting him with the virus.
The woman, whose name has also been withheld, was not asked to plead to the charges when she appeared before magistrate Mr Dennis Mangosi, who remanded her in custody to today for bail application.
Appearing for the State, Mr Lancelot Mutsokoti had it that sometime in February this year, the two slept together for the first time on Valentines’ Day.
The court heard that the man asked his lover to go for HIV tests but the woman promised to bring self-test kits the next time they were meeting. The woman is said to have failed to take the HIV self-test kits despite her lover insisting that they should get tested.
It is said the woman told her lover that she was negative as she usually test herself since she has access to the kits at her workplace.
The court heard that the man had tested negative for HIV a fortnight before they started sleeping together.
Mr Mangosi heard that the two later went for HIV testing where the woman tested positive while the man was negative.
Irked by the results, the man went to lodge a complaint with the police saying his lover had slept with him when she was fully aware that she was HIV positive.
