• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Hamilton Judge Orders HIV-Positive Man to Stand Trial on Murder Charges

Posted on: Monday, 14 November 2005, 21:00 CST

By ANDREW DAVIDSON

TORONTO (CP) - An HIV-positive man who allegedly infected two of his sexual partners will stand trial on first-degree murder charges, a judge ruled Monday in a decision denounced by public health advocates and AIDS activists as the criminalization of a serious disease.

Ontario Court Justice Norman Bennett ruled Monday there was enough evidence to commit Johnson Aziga, 49, to stand trial for first-degree murder in the deaths of two women he allegedly infected through unprotected sex.

It is believed to be the first time someone in Canada who is HIV-positive has been charged with murder for allegedly having unprotected sex with a partner - and it wasn't sitting well Monday with those who work with people infected with HIV and AIDS.

"Using the criminal law in this kind of way is not particularly helpful," said Richard Elliott, deputy director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.

"It risks becoming the dominant impression out there of people living with HIV as potential criminals, which is not an accurate or fair representation."

Aziga, a former staff member with the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General, was diagnosed with HIV in 1996. He is also charged with several counts of aggravated sexual assault for allegedly exposing as many as 11 other women to the virus.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled in 1998 that one partner cannot give true consent if the other fails to disclose an HIV infection.

Aziga's case has forced public health advocates, legal experts and those who advocate on behalf of the HIV/AIDS community to debate the merits and pitfalls of using the criminal justice system to prevent the indiscriminate spread of the virus.

Elliott said criminal prosecution only contributes to the stigma attached to the disease and influences people not to get tested for fear of being held criminally responsible.

But Mark Nagler, a former sociology disability studies instructor at the University of Waterloo who has called HIV a "transmissible disability," said the prosecution of those who knowingly spread HIV is vital to the protection of "the majority" in society.

"When you infect someone with AIDS, maybe within five or 10 years, that's exactly like shooting them with a gun."

Both of the women who died were from Toronto. One died Dec. 7, 2003, and the other died May 19, 2004.

Aziga has been remanded in custody until a trial date is set on Dec. 16.

The public health system is far better suited than criminal sentences for rehabilitating people who place others at risk, said Mary Anne Thomas, executive director of the AIDS Network in Hamilton, an HIV-transmission prevention and awareness organization.

"We're not saying people shouldn't be held responsible for their behaviour, especially when they endanger other people," Thomas said.

"What we're questioning is the suitability of using the criminal justice system this way."

Thomas said public health laws, which can lead to quarantine orders and even restraining patients who refuse to abide by public health orders, are much more flexible and can be better tailored to the individual circumstances of people living with HIV and AIDS.

Bennett's ruling comes in the wake of a high-profile case involving an HIV-positive professional football player.

Trevis Smith, a linebacker with the CFL's Saskatchewan Roughriders, was charged last month with aggravated sexual assault in Surrey, B.C.

Smith returned to Regina after he was freed on $10,000 bail last week. He is to return to a Surrey court on Wednesday to enter a plea, which his lawyer has said will be not guilty.

Michael Behrens, a sociology professor at the University of Toronto, said both cases contribute to the negative perceptions of people living with HIV.

"It creates an us-versus-them mentality that HIV-positive people are the only ones who have the obligation to protect everybody else," Behrens said.

In fact, he said HIV-positive people are often negatively affected by both the health of individuals around them.

"Someone who coughs and smokes and has the flu and hangs around somebody who is HIV-positive could end up killing that person, but . . .we don't bring them up on charges for murder."

Source: Canadian Press

More News in this Category