An HIV-positive man is on trial in Australia for lying to partners, engaging in unprotected sex, and endangering their lives. It’s expected to be a long and complicated case:
If this case sounds familiar, you’re not wrong: a very similar storyline featured on Law and Order: SVU. Of course, this one’s far less likely to devolve into murder and involve lurid red-herrings, but it’s all the more serious for that: Stuart James McDonald, 42, is accused of deliberately lying about his status (he was diagnosed in the late 1990s) not just to his partner but to a number of other men. Prosecutor Sandi McDonald [no relation to the defendant] has told the court that in addition to lying, and omitting his status from online profiles, McDonald deliberately misled some of the men into believing he was using a condom. To the court’s knowledge, McDonald infected 8 men with the virus, including the then-partner.
The charge in question is “endangering life” via reckless indifference. McDonald has pleaded not-guilty. While the trial – which judges have said will be “complicated” and “drawn-out” – may not result in a conviction, one hopes that at the very least it will provide a compelling argument for safe sex – and that any other former partners take heed. And that this man, at any rate, will not be infecting anyone in the near future.
Man With HIV Exposed Others, Court Told [Sydney Morning Herald]