Man with HIV gets five years
The judge said it was “miraculous” EK never transmitted HIV to unsuspecting sex partners.
Already punished with a three-year prison term in 2003 for not disclosing his health status to four women, the London man was ordered today to serve five more years for the same crime.
“I realize the severity of the crime I have done and I realize what I did was wrong,” EK told Justice Johanne Morissette.
“Hopefully it will never happen again,” he said, then corrected himself. “No, it will never happen again.”
Morissette noted EK’s abrupt correction. “You have to understand your status,” she said.
“You have five years to think about your future and think about having this status for the rest of your life.”
EK, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated sexual assault in July.
His victim was a 37-year-old woman who hooked up with him through an Internet chat line on June 3, 2005.
They met a day after communicating online and had protected sex two days later.
EK never told her he was HIV positive — which was diagnosed in 1997.
On June 11, 2005, they had unprotected sex. Again, he didn’t disclose his HIV.
They broke up at the end of July and, in August 2005, EK was arrested and his parole was revoked.
When EK was released from custody, he called the woman. They saw each other as friends, but she didn’t know about his HIV until one of his roommates disclosed it to her.
She called police on May 2, 2006.
The woman, who remains HIV negative, sobbed softly in the courtroom during sentencing.
EK’s lawyer, Robert Farrington, said his client is the father of four children — two who are teenagers and have no contact with him.
The other children are twins born to EK and a woman who met and started a relationship with him after the latest charge was wending its way through the courts.
He told that woman of his status. Neither the woman nor the twins have tested positive for HIV.
Farrington said EK’s actions were “a tremendously serious offence,” but his guilty plea shows he has accepted responsibility.
Farrington told Morissette he consulted the AIDS Committee of London to understand how EK had never infected his sexual partners.
He learned EK hasn’t transmitted his illness, largely because his CDA blood-cell count — cells that help protect the body from infection — remain high while his viral count remains low.
EK was also ordered to provide a DNA sample and his name will be added to the sex-offender registry for life.
Editorial comment
An Ontario man who had already been convicted of aggravated sexual assault (HIV exposure) because he failed to disclose his HIV status to his female sexual partners, and who served almost three years in prison, has been imprisoned again for five years for the same ‘offence’ with a different woman.
Apart from raising the obvious point that rehabilitation was obviously not achieved in this man’s case, the case also shows how informed members of the criminal justice system are about the risks of sexual HIV transmission.
Justice Johanne Morissette, who has already presided over the trials of Tendai Mazambini, Owen Antoine, and Mark Hinton said it was “miraculous” that Edward Kelly had not transmitted HIV to his female sexual partner. Since he was found guilty of having unprotected sex once with the latest partner, it is hardly a miracle that HIV transmission did not occur.
Even more worrying was that Mr Kelly’s lawyer, Robert Farrington, had no idea about HIV transmission risks, either.
Although it is possible that reporter Jane Sims, who has covered on every single criminal HIV exposure/transmission case in London, Ontario, – or subeditor – got the details wrong (CD4 counts have nothing to do with HIV exposure or transmission risk, it is related primarily to viral load) she probably reported what the lawyer said (but then again, why didn’t she correct him?)