HIV POSITIVE RAPIST FACES POSSIBLE EXTRA TEN YEARS IN JAIL

A 26-year-old man who has been convicted of rape will find himself in more trouble should the prosecution prove that he knew about his positive HIV status when he committed the offence.

In the previous mention, the court had ordered that he be taken for HIV testing.

Presenting the results before court, Prosecutor Paul Basupi revealed that they had taken the man for fingerprinting and they found no record of previous convictions, however, the HIV test results came back positive.

“We took him for finger printing, there is no record of previous convictions, which indicates that he is a first offender and the HIV test result came out positive” revealed Basupi.

Chief Magistrate Thebeetsile Mulalo ordered the prosecution to find out whether he knew about his HIV status all along in order to determine his sentence.

“The minimum sentence for the offence you stand convicted of is 10 years unless there are some extenuating circumstances. However, if we find out that you knew about your status. the sentence increases to 20 years imprisonment, but if you had HIV and you were not aware, the sentence is 15 years imprisonment,” explained Mulalo.

Addressing the court, the convicted rapist decried that it was unfair that he was only being taken for HIV testing in 2021 when he committed the offence in 2018.

“I was taken for blood extraction in 2018 and I was not tested for HIV, now they have tested me after 3 years. It is unfair,” he lamented.

Mulalo was quick to clarify that the blood extraction was necessary during investigation stage while HIV testing is also mandatory before sentencing.

Pleading with the court to be lenient on him, the man revealed that he was drunk and did not know what he was doing when he committed the crime.

“At the time of the incident, I was drinking with the complainant because I had already given her some money and she wanted to leave; she suggested that we finish our business in the abandoned house near the bar and we did, but she then turned around and made it look like I raped her,” protested the convicted man adding that he is the only child taking care of his elderly parents.

The matter has been set for 19th October for sentencing.