A 47-year-old gay
man in the United Kingdom was convicted last week of
recklessly transmitting HIV to his boyfriend, marking the
country's first such conviction in a case
involving gay men, The Mirror reports. Four
other U.K. residents, all heterosexuals, have been
convicted of deliberately infecting people with HIV over the
past three years.
The man pleaded
guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm by deliberately
exposing his partner to the virus through unprotected sex
and for lying to his partner about his HIV infection.
According to court documents, the 37-year-old
boyfriend of the man learned of his partner's
infection through a mutual friend only after he had
been infected himself.
Court and law
enforcement officials praised the conviction, saying the
man was "callous" for deliberately exposing
his partner to a life-threatening disease. (The
Advocate)