[Update]Canada: More on the Trinidadian migrant case

Diagnosed with HIV in 1996, X complained he was lonely and has been shunned by family and strangers alike as soon as they learn of his status. “It is inhumane,” he wept. “It’s very cruel.” While sympathetic to the stigma he’s endured, the judge told X that he unfairly took advantage of two vulnerable women who are now sentenced to a lifetime of psychological pain. “He cannot put his sexual desires above the safety of people in the community,” McMahon said.

The case is the first since the controversial Supreme Court of Canada ruling last month that people with HIV who have a low viral load no longer have to disclose their status as long as they wear a condom. X’ viral load was low, “almost undetectable”, but still ran afoul of the ruling because he didn’t wear protection with the two women. Both sides were awaiting the Supreme Court decision before proceeding with his case. “He simply didn’t tell people because he didn’t think he was a risk,” his lawyer Stephanie Heyens explained outside court. That may be, but X certainly knew he was breaking the law — he’s been convicted of this before.

Police were first alerted about X by his stepdaughter after she accused him of infecting her mother, who died of AIDS in 2005 at the age of 54. Though not charged in that case, he was convicted in 2006 on two counts of aggravated assault after two other girlfriends came forward to complain that he didn’t tell them he was HIV-positive. Sentenced to two years in jail, Williams expressed remorse at the time. And then went on to repeat the exact same potentially lethal behaviour.

His newest victims were both grandmothers in their 50s who met the “very caring” X in 2011. One specifically told him how paranoid she was of contracting AIDS. He still told her nothing. She was the first to go to police after a mutual friend told her about his past and she discovered all the horrifying details after typing his name into Google.

The other woman told him that her practice was to have her sexual partner tested for HIV. When X wouldn’t agree, she let it go and they went on to have a six-month relationship that lasted almost right up until his arrest. She only learned the truth after seeing his photo on the news on Sept. 2, 2011. “I felt dirty, betrayed, scared, ashamed and just wanted to die,” she wrote in her victim impact statement. “How could anyone do this to another human? How cold is that?”

Neither has tested positive, but both have contemplated suicide and suffer from depression and insomnia. “It hurts beyond words,” said the first woman, who met X at a bar during Caribana. “X pick me like he is hunting a piece of meat to kill.” But thankfully, his hunting grounds will no longer be in Canada. With 15 months credit for pretrial custody, X will serve four years and nine months in a federal prison before he’s bound for Trinidad.

X, 50, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual assault. “My life is over. I’m going to get deported,” said the Trinidadian immigrant, adding he won’t get proper health care outside Canada. This was the second time X  pleaded guilty and was jailed for failing to use a condom or notify sex partners he had a virus that causes AIDS. In 2006, he was sentenced to three years in prison. None of his partners was infected. “He cannot put his sexual desires above the safety of people,” said Ontario Superior Court Justice John McMahon. After pre-trial custody is deducted, X must serve four years, nine months more.