Ten years for man who gave women HIV

A MAN who infected two women with HIV has been jailed for ten years.

The 28-year-old was convicted of causing serious harm to his former partners between November 2009 and June 2010.

At Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, the women revealed in their victim-impact statements how the man would tell people to avoid them as they had the virus.

One woman said the man, who cannot be named to protect the victims’ identities, ‘began to tell me repeatedly that nobody would want me’ after her diagnosis. She said this was the reason she married him.

This woman, in her statement, said the man ‘pestered’ her and would not leave her alone. She ended up in hospital and attempted suicide numerous time.

The second victim said she was close to overdosing on her HIV medication and found it hard to get out of bed when she was first diagnosed.

She said that she would get drunk and that ‘on a few occasions I tried to walk out in front of cars’.

The man, who lives in Dublin, was convicted after a trial. He pleaded not guilty.

Jailing him for ten years yesterday, Judge Martin Nolan said the man’s behaviour was ‘grossly reprehensible’ and that he had destroyed the two women’s lives.

He said: ‘Both injured parties are condemned to take medication for the rest of their lives and they have also been condemned in their ability to establish future relationships.’