HIV-infected man faces sexual assault trial
An HIV-infected man who is serving a prison sentence for having unprotected sex with three women in Ontario will stand trial in Saskatoon on a charge of aggravated sexual assault.
The charge against Fidel Mombo MacKay, 44, alleges he committed an aggravated sexual assault and endangered the life of a Saskatoon woman between Jan. 1, 2004, and May 31, 2005.
MacKay was committed to stand trial at Court of Queen’s Bench following a preliminary hearing Tuesday. No date has been set.
He is also charged with fraud, forgery and possessing proceeds of crime.
Evidence from the preliminary hearing is subject to a publication ban. Another ban protects the identity of the complainant.
MacKay was sentenced in April 2007 in Sudbury, Ont., to 30 months on top of the 16 months he had spent in custody awaiting trial there, according to reports from the Sudbury Star newspaper.
He had pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated sexual assault related to contacts he had between Sept. 1 and Dec. 11, 2005.
One of the Ontario women became infected with the virus that causes AIDS as a result of that contact, the Sudbury court heard.
MacKay’s activities in Ontario came to light as a result of the Saskatoon complaint and a resulting Canada-wide warrant, says the Sudbury news report.
Police there had responded to a complaint of a noisy party and had taken names of people present. When they later discovered that one of the names matched a warrant they returned to the residence, where they found MacKay in bed with a woman, Sudbury court heard.
Police released MacKay’s photograph to the Sudbury media and asked that anyone who’d had sexual contact with him to come forward and to seek medical advice. Two more women came forward.
The sentencing judge ordered that MacKay’s DNA be submitted to the national databank.
MacKay had previously worked in Zaire as a bodyguard for diplomats and other dignitaries, the Sudbury court heard.
The case has similarities to that of Trevis Smith, a former football player with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who is serving a 5 1/2-year sentence on two counts of aggravated sexual assault. He was sentenced in February 2007 for having unprotected sex with two women without telling them he was HIV-positive.
Editorial comment
An HIV-positive former bodyguard from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who has been in an Ontario prison since December 2005, and who pleaded guilty to three counts of HIV-related aggravated sexual assault in April 2007, and was sentenced to an additional 30 months imprisonment, will now stand trial in Saskatchewan on similar charges.
According to a report in the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network Policy and Law Review (Vol 12, No. 2/3, December 2007) Fidel Mombo MacKay, now 44, “learned he was HIV-positive while receiving medical treatment for injuries suffered in a car accident in November 2002. In December 2005, the Greater Sudbury Police arrested MacKay in relation to a Canada-wide warrant issued by the Saskatoon police against MacKay for having unprotected sex without informing his partner of his HIV status. MacKay was arrested while he was in bed with one of the victims.
“After his arrest, police released MacKay’s picture to the media, urging individuals who had sex with him to seek medical advice and to contact them. This resulted in two more Sudbury women coming forward. Of the three women, one tested positive for HIV after having unprotected sex with MacKay.
“In addition to his prison term, MacKay’s name was entered in the federal government’s national registry of sex offenders, his DNA was placed in the federal DNA databank, and
he was prohibited from possessing weapons for 10 years. At the time of his sentencing, MacKay was expected to be returned to Saskatchewan to respond to the original charges that
resulted in the Canada-wide warrant.”