HIV/AIDS News
News and information about HIV/AIDS
Gay UK Winner Donates To HIV Charity
Jan 18th
London – Newly crowned Mr Gay UK, Samuel Kneen, has pledged a portion of his prize money to HIV/AIDS charity the Terence Higgins Trust.
Kneen, 22, is to give a portion of the £2000 prize money to the charity in support of a friend who was diagnosed with HIV.
The Toni and Guy hairdresser said: “I told them when I entered the contest that I know somebody who has got HIV and I want to support him. It is something I feel strongly about.”
A month after his coronation , Kneen also discussed his mission to raise awareness for the charity and around HIV and Aids: “I walked around Cardiff on World AIDS Day last year and the shops didn’t know what I was talking about when I was asking if they had any ribbons for sale. I’d like to make a difference if I can, and help people know more about it.”
The second consecutive Mr Gay UK to hail from Cardiff, Kneen entered the competition impulsively on a night out in Cardiff after splitting up with his boyfriend.
As well as the prize money, a professional photo shoot in Morocco and the prestige of the title, Kneen was also awarded his first modeling contract with underwear brand, Lick.
He also talked about the confidence he got from entering the competition, and that despite what comes next for him, he said that he enjoyed the pride he got from friends and family, and was, “humbled” by his popularity with the voters.
Joshua Hall, Services Manager at THT’s Cardiff office, told PinkNews.co.uk the charity was “very grateful for the donation from Samuel.
“Not only does it help raise funds for people living with HIV locally, it will also help raise awareness around the issues of HIV. One of THT’s aims is to raise awareness to the general public that HIV still exists and that it can be prevented.”
After months of competing for the title, Kneen is currently deciding whether to enter Mr Gay Europe later this year as well as his holiday in Morocco.
LGBT Out Of Chinese Closet
Jan 7th
Beijing – reased awareness is breaking down the stigma of HIV/AIDS treatment in China. This year, the country will host its first ‘AIDS Walk,’ which will include a trek along the Great Wall.
There are officially 780,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in China, but stigma and discrimination means that people are afraid to get tested. Anyone taking an HIV test at an official disease control center must give their ID number.
But international bodies like the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria are backing grassroots groups such as one run by gay man Nan Feng in the sprawling city of Chongqing, which also offers testing as part of its AIDS prevention work.
According to Zhang Beichuan, a Chinese AIDS expert, there are now more than 200 such non-governmental groups in China.
Nan launched a gay website in 1998. Three years later, a local newspaper interviewed him on his AIDS-prevention work.
After the interview was published, Nan’s colleagues surreptitiously put the full-page newspaper report about him unfolded on his desk.
“The people around me had the common prejudice that all gays have AIDS,” he tells Xinhuanet.
He quit his job and Landian starting distributing condoms at gay bars and promoting the website.
Landian was established in the provincial capital of Taiyuan in 2006 and has provided free and private HIV tests for more than 450 gay males and their family members since September 2010.
With the help of Landian, volunteer groups were set up in another five cities in the province of Shanxi last year.
The number of volunteers is also growing as the public has become more tolerant to the gay community, according to the group.
Last month, HIV/AIDS prevention posters appeared on the streets in Beijing, to the surprise of many. The posters had previously only been seen inside gay bars.
The AIDS Walk first took place in Los Angeles in 1985 to raise awareness of the epidemic, and later this year it will happen in China for the first time. It is being organized by three non-profit organizations, including the government-backed China Population Welfare Foundation, and has been approved by Chinese authorities.
As well as the support for grassroots gay groups, Global Fund for Women is backing a lesbian group, Lala Alliance, which has grown to have hundreds of members.
The group has organized several activist training camps and published China’s first lesbian oral history.
In another example of positive change, last month the first China Rainbow Media Awards were handed out, recognizing positive representations of LGBT people in China’s mainstream media.
The organizers invited an elderly gay man nicknamed ‘Old Paris’ to present the Special Contribution Award to Dr. Li Yinhe, a well-known sociologist who has spoken out many times on homosexuality and who submitted several proposals to legalize same-sex marriage.
‘Old Paris’, who is 72 years old, was jailed three times under the ‘hooliganism’ provision. Today he lives a quiet life together with his boyfriend. Awards organizers quote him saying:
Although I went to prison several times, I never felt that I was wrong. I never stole anything, I never robbed anyone, and I never did anything that was wrong.
Read more: http://www.care2.com/causes/gay-lesbian-and-hiv-grassroots-growing-in-china.html#ixzz1ij0nXsck
China HIV Posters Stir Controversy
Dec 19th
Beijing – Beijinger Zhang Lei was surprised to see posters in her neighborhood that showed two shirtless men each holding a condom.
She snapped three photos of the posters in her community in Beijing’s Xicheng district and posted them on her Sina Weibo micro blog on Nov 29. Her post stirred fierce debate.
Some doubt the government approved the posters. Others believe it shows progress in China’s HIV/AIDS prevention and mindset.
“I never thought government offices would print such posters, as homosexuality seems taboo in China,” Zhang, who works in a real estate finance company, says.
“I think the posters are good but wonder if the elderly can understand them.”
The posters were created in 2009 by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Chengdu Tongle Health Consulting Center, a Chengdu, Sichuan province-based NGO that promotes homosexual culture, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
In December 2010, the CDC printed the posters and mailed them to its branches throughout the country.
The center also posted the downloadable electronic versions on its website.
“The posters have been used for some time, but the public didn’t know that until recently, because the posters are mostly displayed in gay bars and public bathhouses that are frequented by homosexuals,” Xu Jie, of the CDC’s National Center for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, says.
“Conventional AIDS posters can’t capture the attention of special groups, such as intravenous drug users and homosexuals. It’s necessary to design different posters for them, to better promote HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.”
He says the center has also designed posters for drug users and sex workers.
There are about 780,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in China. About 48,000 people were diagnosed as HIV-positive in 2011. Among them, 29.4 percent are men who have sex with men (MSM).
“Because the infection rate among the MSM community is quite high, we must promote HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment among this population,” Xu says.
“The posters are a good way to do this.”
The center also organizes peer education to teach MSM about HIV/AIDS and hands out condoms.
“It’s the first time we’ve widely used standardized AIDS posters with themes relating to homosexuality,” Xu says.
“Some (CDC) branches used to develop their own publicity materials for homosexuals, but most have no such things.”
Chengdu Tongle director Wang Xiaodong says, “Most AIDS posters are to warn others about the disease’s serious consequences, through such means as slogans. We want to show our solicitude, so that MSM can live better lives.”
The style is “very bold”, says Lin Shu, who helped design the posters.
“The owners of gay bars like that because they want something that touches one’s heart rather than something that shows how horrible AIDS is,” the 36-year-old says.
Lin and his colleagues at Chengdu Tongle first conducted market research and designed six posters according to the themes of promoting condom use, HIV/AIDS testing and care for – rather than discrimination toward – people living with HIV/AIDS.
The images are intended to be very sweet. They include such portrayals as of gay lovers going hand-in-hand to take an HIV test, and lovers hugging to comfort someone living with HIV.
Lin sent samples to dozens of gay bars and bathhouses as a trial run. The owners were willing to use them. One of the biggest gay bars in Chengdu even put a poster in a lamp box advertisement in front of its gate.
“Overseas, there are similar posters, which can improve one’s understanding of gay people,” Wang says.
“China should do more about it, and these posters should be widely used.”
Lin is surprised to hear the places where the posters are popping up.
“They’re supposed to be put up in places frequented by homosexuals. I never thought they would appear in residential districts.”
Lin says the posters help HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment. But those who know little about homosexuality and HIV/AIDS may misunderstand them as saying that “gay equals AIDS”.
Beijing CDC deputy director He Xiong says, “The posters are designed only for MSM community, which hides from the public. We are just telling people that if you adopt this way of life, you should be aware of your own health.”
Dangerous Predator To Be Jailed
Dec 14th
Ottawa – A former Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer who had more than 20,000 images of child pornography on his computer and sexually assaulted a 14-year-old boy should receive a seven- to 10-year jail term, says a prosecutor.
Warren Robert Allen, 53, of Vancouver, pleaded guilty to one count of possession of child pornography for the purpose of distribution and one count of sexual assault in British Columbia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday.
Allen, who served as a cop in Alberta from 1978 to 1984, was arrested in May 2010 during a police crackdown on child pornography that resulted in more than 200 charges laid and 57 arrests in Canada and overseas.
Toronto police were first alerted to Allen’s involvement in the child pornography network in December 2009 when they were advised by the FBI of an individual with the online name “Fetch Dick.”
Eventually police traced “Fetch Dick” to Allen, who lived in an apartment in Vancouver’s west end.
Police executed a search warrant on Allen’s apartment and seized a computer containing more than 800,000 images, 20,000 of those images depicting child pornography.
Some of the images depicted infants being sexually assaulted and tortured.
Also on the computer were copies of web chats revealing Allen, a gay man who has been HIV positive for more than 20 years, to be part of a community engaging in unprotected sex.
“Mr. Allen in his chats identifies himself as a spreader, someone who is HIV positive and is actively trying to infect other people,” prosecutor Jocelyn Coupal told B.C. Supreme Court Madam Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein.
“In multiple online chats, he talks about how he wants to infect other males, in particular unsuspecting ones, and most particularly unsuspecting bisexual males who have a female partner.”
In the online vernacular, the word “pozzing” refers to the activity of an HIV person engaging in unprotected sex and the word “neg” refers to someone who is HIV negative, court heard.
“I love f–king pozzing negs,” Allen says during one online chat.
The chats also reveal that Allen is attracted to boys aged five to seven years old, said Coupal.
“In multiple occasions, he describes them as his ideal partners. And there are also descriptions about how he wants to keep a young person as a sex slave he can rape and torture for days on end.”
Coupal said the 14-year-old victim, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, was lured to Allen’s apartment after an online chat with him and then shown child pornography before being sexually assaulted.
A second man, who was also HIV positive, was present at the time and also sexually assaulted the boy. The co-accused, Shaun Nelson, has not yet gone to trial.
The victim has been tested and is HIV negative.
Coupal told the judge that she was seeking a three- to four-year jail term for the child pornography offence and a four- to six-year jail term for the sexual assault, to be served consecutively.
The sentencing hearing was expected to continue on Tuesday afternoon with more Crown submissions followed by submissions from Allen’s lawyer.
Burma Ups Fight Against AIDS
Dec 7th
Yangon – Myanmar (Burma) has worked out a national strategic plan (2011-15) to fight HIV/AIDS in the next five years, which highlights the creative use of diverse types of mass media to reduce stigma and discrimination and to reduce the risk of HIV transmission among key affected population and youths.
The plan was developed in consultation with all key stakeholders as a roadmap to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, care treatment for those in need and reach the zero targets (zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS related deaths) in Myanmar by 2015 ultimately.
“The AIDS response in Myanmar has entered a critical stage. While good achievements on prevention treatment and care has been made so far, Myanmar can achieve universal access if the entire society and all stakeholders are fully mobilized in the years to come or lose the current achievements and see the epidemic grow,” warned the organizer of a Round-table Discussion on Reaching Zero AIDS related Stigma and Discrimination in Myanmar, jointly organized by the Ministry of Health and UNAIDS based in Myanmar.
The roundtable held in Yangon on Tuesday involved celebrities, officials from the ministry, representatives from local community and Myanmar positive groups, civil society and UN agencies.
Participants warned that there remains challenges to scale up HIV/AIDS responses, pointing out that in additional to the technical challenges, there are other key challenges such as lack of financial resource.
Total budget to implement the strategy over the five years is about 340 million U.S. dollars with which Myanmar can achieve universal access and meet Millennium Development Goal HIV related targets but the estimated available budget for five years for the time being is only about 147 million, leaving a gap of 10 million to 59 million USD per year, according to the roundtable.
Participants appealed to the international community to increase assistance in combating HIV/AIDS.
UNAIDS country coordinator expressed the belief that with intelligence and innovative approaches, the media will lead the anti-AIDS campaign to meet the best interest of the people, saying that it will contribute to achieving the three zeros in Myanmar — zero new HIV infection; zero discrimination and zero AIDS related deaths.
The roundtable is convinced that media can make great contribution to national HIV and AIDS response by providing culturally appropriate and accurate information to the public and it can also help in mobilizing different sectors and community participation, mobilizing domestic and international resources.
Myanmar has been fighting against HIV and AIDS for more than two decades since the first HIV case was reported in 1988 and the first AIDS case in 1991.
According to the latest estimation, HIV prevalence among adult population in Myanmar was 0.6 percent in 2010 and the total number of people living with HIV including children was about 225,000.
It was estimated that in 2010 alone, there were about 9,000 new HIV infections and nearly 20,000 AIDS related deaths.
There will be over 100,000 people living with HIV need Anti Retroviral Treatment (ART) when the new treatment guideline is in place in 2012, according to the roundtable.
This puts AIDS as one of the key public health challenges in Myanmar.
Meanwhile, there is significant progress in Myanmar underscored. In terms of treatment, by the end of 2010 from 2006, about 30,000 people were on ARV Treatment.
Coverage of prevention services for key affected populations has increased and reduced HIV prevalence significantly.
While there are some geographic differences, there are clear indications that the HIV transmission in Myanmar is decreasing .
In 2011, HIV prevalence among key populations are reported to have dropped among sex workers to 9.4 percent from 33 percent in 2006), among men who have sex with men to 11 percent from 29 percent in 2007, among injecting drug users to 21.9 percent.
The number of pregnant women receiving HIV test and post-test counseling increased to 250,000 in 2010 compared to 125,000 in 2007.
The capacity of the civil society groups who work in HIV and AIDS field has improved and they are recognized as important partners in HIV and AIDS works.
Pinoy Minister Slated For AIDS Remarks
Dec 5th
Manila - Human rights activists recoiled in horror at homophobic remarks made by Department of Health Secretary Enrique Ona before an AIDS convention and demanded his resignation from office for discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender populations who are part of the country’s priority populations for HIV prevention.
Speaking before the Plenary Meeting of the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) at the Manila Grand Opera Hotel, Ona suggested the gathered AIDS prevention workers that parents should reign their homosexual children and get them tested. He was immediately met with angry hoots and whistles from AIDS activists.
“We want Ona ousted. Bigots do not deserve high government posts, and more so he should not serve as a chair of PNAC if we do not want his unscientific biases to taint the good work of our unsung AIDS preventions heroes nationwide,” said Marlon Lacsamana, the founder of the Philippines LGBT Hate Crime Watch, a human rights watchdog.
“We’re wasting our hard-earned taxpayers’ money on homophobes as he is undoing decades of evidence-based prevention practices that aim to encourage homosexuals and transgenders to voluntarily seek testing, counseling, and treatment. Ona’s words will drive LGBTs away from HIV programs and make us so vulnerable to infections,” Lacsamana said.
Oscar Atadero, human rights officer of the Progressive Organization of Gays in the Philippines (ProGay) stated that it was very regrettable that Ona uttered his remarks when the World AIDS Day theme this year is about “Getting to Zero.” The global call by the United Nations for Zero New HIV Infections is designed to ensure that most at risk populations (MARPs) get much improved access to treatment for all.
“Instead of achieving zero deaths, suggesting that gays, bisexuals and transgenders get tested en masse will achieve zero access, zero treatment and zero saved lives. It feels like gays, bisexuals and transgender being given a marching order to file into gas ovens in Europe during the time of Hitler,” Atadero said.
The Philippines remain one the countries with punitive anti-gay laws, such as the Anti-Vagrancy Law, and rampant violence against LGBTs inflicted by police and village security forces. The UN point out that these anti-LGBT policies prevent homosexuals, transgenders, and their partners from accessing life-saving information and treatment.
Shanghai HIV Infections Jump
Dec 1st
Shanghai – More than 80 percent of the newly reported HIV carriers in Shanghai this year were infected via unprotected sex, just over half of whom were homosexual males, local authorities said on Wednesday, ahead of today, which marks World AIDS Day.
During the first 11 months of the year, 1,294 HIV carriers were reported, an increase of 11.5 percent from last year, 51.9 percent of whom were gay men, while an overwhelming majority of the carriers, 880 of them or 68 percent of the demographic, comprised non-local Chinese residents, according to Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau.
But, while the latest numbers bring the city’s total number of HIV/AIDS patients to 1,813 people, the rate of infection for the disease has been declining in the city in recent years, Xu Jianguang, director of Shanghai Municipal Health Bureau, told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.
“But unprotected sex was responsible for the majority of new cases this year, with 82.5 percent of the city’s newly reported HIV carriers contracting the disease from unsafe sex,” he said. “Most of the new carriers were also male, accounting for 89.1 percent of those recently infected.”
Xu added that a series of measures to raise awareness of AIDS has helped improve the overall situation in the city.
“Shanghai now has 45 HIV clinics that meet national standards,” he said. “The centers have processed nearly 18,300 people in the past year.”
A handful of HIV-positive pregnant women were among those treated in the past year, none of whom delivered infected newborns, added Xu.
The rate of infection among drug users, meanwhile, has dropped significantly with the group accounting for only 8.7 percent of this year’s newly reported carriers, down 19.9 percent from last year.
Younger populations still account for the majority of carriers, with those between the ages of 25 and 34 comprising 38.4 percent of the city’s HIV carriers, while another 20.8 percent of those infected are between 35 and 44.
With more treatment options available for this group, things are getting better for those infected with the disease despite the strong stigmas that continue to plague them, according to Lu Hongzhou, deputy director of Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, which specializes in treatments for HIV/AIDS patients.
“The most important thing is that they get the care they need,” he told the Global Times on Wednesday.
“The clinics set up by the government ensure they receive qualified care, even if, at the cost of separating them from others, who are scared to be treated at the same clinics.”
Lu added that the new one-stop comprehensive medical treatment plan launched for HIV/AIDS patients in January has not only improved quality of life for patients, but also eased challenges associated with finding doctors willing to treat them.
NZ AIDS Epidemic
Nov 30th
Auckland – As HIV diagnoses continue to rise in New Zealand, the New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF) and New Zealanders affected by HIV, will mark World AIDS Day on Thursday, 1 December.
In 2010, 149 people were diagnosed with HIV in New Zealand, continuing the trend of increased numbers since 2003. While figures from the AIDS Epidemiology Group at the University of Otago showed a sharp decline in new HIV diagnoses for heterosexual New Zealanders, 2010 was the worst year on record for gay and bisexual men in New Zealand with 95 new diagnoses of HIV.
Shaun Robinson, Executive Director of the NZAF says, “The epidemic is in a resurgent phase due to changes in treatment, community perceptions and sexual networking. As the epidemic has become less visible over the years, a certain complacency around sexual safety has crept in. A clear and determined focus on HIV prevention strategies is needed now, more than ever before.”
The global theme of World AIDS Day, Getting to Zero has been adopted by New Zealand organisations. Getting to Zero focuses on three aspirational messages; zero new HIV infections, zero AIDS related deaths and zero discrimination. Launched by UNAIDS earlier, this year, these three messages also reflect issues that are at the forefront of New Zealand’s HIV epidemic; HIV prevention initiatives, access to essential treatment and equality for people living with HIV.
“The key to ending the HIV epidemic is increasing rates of condom use in the communities most affected by HIV,” says Robinson. Condoms remain the single most effective tool in reducing the onward transmission of HIV. The National Institutes for Health in the US confirm that condoms reduce the probability of transmission per sex act by 95 per cent when used correctly and consistently; a figure supported by the World Health Organisation.
Robinson says, “The best estimate of the number of people living with HIV in New Zealand in 2010 is 1800. The majority of these will be gay and bi-sexual men. That’s 1800 people who have been needlessly infected. While New Zealand has one of the best records in the world for controlling the HIV epidemic, World AIDS Day is a sobering reminder that there are many people we still need to reach. An increased focus on safe sexual behaviour will be the driving force behind the NZAF’s initiatives for 2012.”
HK MSM HIV Cases To Rise
Nov 30th
Hong Kong – HIV infections this year in Hong Kong will surpass those of 2010, with infections among men having sex with men (MSM) a leading factor despite focused prevention strategies.
On the eve of World Aids Day tomorrow, the SAR’s Department of Health said the number of new infections reached a two-year quarterly high of 113 in July to September this year compared to 81 in the same quarter last year.
This also takes to 317 the number of newly diagnosed HIV cases in the first nine months of the year.
Of the new infections, about 38 percent – or 43 – were MSM, compared to 35 in the same quarter last year.
Total HIV infections for this year are likely to surpass the 389 for 2010, said Wong Ka-hing, consultant (special preventive programme) of the Centre for Health Protection.
An Advisory Council on AIDS strategy document released earlier this month warned that the number of MSM HIV reported cases will continue to increase and contribute more to the local epidemic in the years to come.
“MSM in Asia are 19 times more likely to be infected with HIV than the general population,” the document stated.
But concern groups said awareness of HIV prevention may decline at the same time.
Elijah Fung, manager of St John’s Cathedral HIV Education Centre, said: “There are very limited resources targeting the general public – youth, women – and the migrant [foreign domestic workers] population.”
AIDS Concern chief executive Loretta Wong Wai-kwan said there may be “message fatigue” in which members of the MSM community believe they are no longer at risk with the focus of the first wave of the AIDS epidemic being on the general population.
AIDS Concern will offer free HIV testing until Saturday as part of World AIDS Day.
The former Kowloon-Canton Railway station clock tower and the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts will be turned red tomorrow night to mark the day.
HIV Man Faces Attempted Murder Charge
Nov 6th
Ottawa – An HIV-positive man in the Canadian capital of Ottawa is mulling an appeal after a judge ruled he must stand trial on four charges of attempted murder for having unprotected sex with young men without telling them of his condition.
A judge’s decision this week to reinstate the most severe charges against Steven Paul Boone overturns an earlier ruling at his preliminary hearing, which held failing to disclose HIV status cannot be attempted murder because, medically, HIV infection is no longer inevitably fatal.
That decision was flawed, however, because it wrongly weighed medical evidence that should have been dealt with at trial, Justice Albert Roy ruled. Instead, he found there was sufficient evidence to merit a trial on attempted murder, which requires proof of intent to kill and carries a maximum sentence of 14 years.
Several aspects of the case cannot be reported because of a publication ban imposed on evidence at this summer’s preliminary hearing.
Barring a successful appeal, this is one of the few times in Canada an accused will be tried for attempted murder, rather than aggravated assault or aggravated sexual assault, for failing to inform sexual partners of his HIV-positive status.
With the allegation of intent to kill, Boone’s case recalls that of Johnson Aziga, who in 2009 became the first person convicted of first-degree murder in Canada for failing to disclose his HIV-positive status to two women who later died of AIDS-related cancers.
Boone, 30, faces two dozen charges relating to unprotected sexual contact with eight people, including administering a noxious substance and violating the terms of his probation, plus one count of possessing child pornography.
The investigation began in April 2010, when a male complained to police he had contracted an infectious disease from Boone.
His arrest a few days later, after which police released his photo in an effort to inform the public of the risk and perhaps find more alleged victims, caused an uproar in his hometown of Ottawa. AIDS activists decried the criminalization of illness and warned such public shaming could deter sick people from seeking care.
But the primary legal conundrum, soon to be revisited by the Supreme Court of Canada in two unrelated cases, is whether sex with a person who has HIV involves a significant risk of serious bodily harm.
As a matter of medical fact, the answer has been changing. It is now dramatically different from where it was in 1998, when AIDS was at its peak and the Supreme Court last reviewed the law in the case of Henry Gerard Cuerrier. That precedent, which remains on the books, holds that failing to inform sexual partners of HIV-positive status, regardless of whether infection occurs, involves a type of fraud and amounts to aggravated assault.
Since then, about 80 people have been charged in such cases, but hardly ever with attempted murder.
“There are no reported authorities that either of us (prosecution or defence) could find (about failing to disclose HIV as attempted murder)” said Boone’s lawyer, Ian Carter.
Other cases have further complicated the issue, made the law seem behind the times and undermined the premise that death is a probable consequence of HIV exposure.
For example, in 2005, a judge instructed a British Columbia jury that an accused had no duty to disclose his HIV-positive status if he used a condom at all times.
In two other cases, to be jointly appealed at the Supreme Court, the HIV viral load of the accused was so low the risk of transmission was dramatically reduced and so did not constitute a “significant risk of serious bodily harm” under the law.
Boone’s case is especially unusual, because the charges go beyond aggravated assault to attempted murder, which requires an intent to kill.
When a preliminary hearing judge weighed the medical evidence and decided it was unreasonable to see death as a predictable outcome of HIV infection, AIDS advocates welcomed the quashing of the four attempted murder charges as a victory for common sense and compassion.
The problem, as Justice Roy of Ontario Superior Court has now ruled, is the job of the preliminary hearing judge is not to take sides on what the evidence means. Rather, it is to determine whether there is enough evidence that a properly instructed jury could reasonably return a guilty verdict.
Deciding no reasonable jury could convict on attempted murder in this case was an inference too far, Roy ruled.
“The distinction between weighing inferences and deciding which inferences are reasonable can at times be very subtle and have a margin of disagreement,” he wrote.
“One can appreciate that, given the medical advances made in the last 15 years in the treatment of HIV, why the preliminary hearing judge would have some reluctance in concluding that the accused had the specific intent necessary to sustain a conviction for attempted murder,” Roy ruled.
“Nevertheless, given all of the evidence he had to consider, it appears that he accepted some of the evidence to the exclusion of the balance of the rest of the evidence before him. In so doing, he impermissibly weighed inferences resulting in accepting inferences favourable to the defence. That whole process is one that should be left to the trier of fact.”
No trial has been scheduled. The deadline for filing an appeal is later this month.
