Canadian HIV Murder Trial

You think of first-degree murder and you might visualize scenarios out of true crime television: Scott Peterson viciously killing his wife Laci and their unborn child and dumping their bodies in the bay, or the handsome and educated Ted Bundy killing dozens of beautiful college co-eds who helped him out because he feigned an arm injury. We may think of the words violent, brutal and inhuman. What if there is no blood though? No actual murder weapon? Now, in a landmark case out of Canada, a 52 year-old man is being tried for first-degree murder for knowingly transmitting HIV to his sexual partners.

In 1997, the defendant Johnson Aziga, a Ugandan immigrant, tested positive for HIV; however, despite this status, he did not have protected sex, nor did he alert his sexual partners of his condition. As most people know, HIV is directly responsible for causing AIDS. As the immune system become weaker, the infected patient is more vulnerable to acquiring a score of infections that may ultimately cause their demise. This is exactly what happened to two of the defendant’s ex-girlfriends; both succumbed to cancers that prosecuting lawyers feel were related to their HIV status.

In the prosecutor Tim Power’s opening statement, he stated, “One may immediately think of a violent rape scenario. That is not what this case is all about.” In order to get the jury’s mindsets to turn from images of violence and gore normally associated with first-degree murder, he noted that the defendant Aziga knowingly “put his partners at risk of serious bodily harm without their knowing.” To further demonstrate Aziga’s callousness in the matter, Power told the jury that even on the day Aziga was arrested he was having sex with yet another woman. Prosecutors have said that Aziga had unprotected sexual relations with 11 or more women, never once alerting them that he was HIV-positive. The defendant’s lawyer, Davies Bagambiire, stated, “It’s going to be a landmark case. This is the first time that a Canadian is prosecuted for alleged murder through the alleged dissemination or transmission of the HIV virus.”

Power and his team have produced evidence to the court that Aziga was well-aware of the repercussions of his selfish actions. Because of his positive HIV status, he had attended many sessions with counselors where he was educated on the risks associated with his infection, including how the disease is transmitted through unprotected sex. In addition, there were two health decrees issued to him that ordered him to always use condoms while having sex and to alert his partners of his HIV-positive status. He failed to do either. Not only did he refuse to use contraceptives or alert his partners, he flat out lied to one woman who asked him outright whether or not he had HIV.

Both of the women who died of AIDS complications because of the HIV they contracted from Aziga made statements for the trial before they succumbed to the disease. The first woman was a co-worker of Aziga who slept with him several times in 2001; she left a videotaped statement. The second woman also recorded her statement before she died. There are critics of the trial however, including several AIDS activists and the United Nations AIDS program. They feel that somebody should not be prosecuted for transmitting the virus because it could cause HIV carriers to be stigmatized even more than they already are. Also they feel that criminal cases offer up misinformation to the public about how the virus is transmitted and its associated risks.