German singer with HIV guilty of bodily harm

[Praxius]

CBC News - World - German singer with HIV guilty of bodily harm

A singer in a German girl band broke down into tears Thursday after a court convicted her but gave no jail time for having unprotected sex with her then boyfriend despite knowing she was infected with HIV.

Nadja Benaissa, 28, was given a two-year suspended prison sentence and 300 hours of community service after she was convicted in a Darmstadt administrative court of causing bodily harm. She faced a possible 10 years behind bars. The court ruled Benaissa had infected her then boyfriend with the virus that causes AIDS.

Benaissa helped her case during the trial, which began Aug. 16, by acknowledging she had unprotected sex despite knowing she was HIV-positive and saying it was a big mistake.

"I'm sorry from the bottom of my heart," Benaissa said, adding she had realized how much her now ex-boyfriend was still suffering.

"I wish I could turn back time and make everything undone," she told the court. "But I know that he will never forgive me."

The man who claimed Benaissa infected him said they had a three-month relationship at the beginning of 2004 and that he got tested after Benaissa's aunt asked him in 2007 whether he was aware that the singer was HIV-positive.

Benaissa said she didn't tell anybody about her disease because she was afraid of the consequences, which she described during the trial as a "cowardly act."

During the trial, microbiologist Josef Eberle, who examined the viruses of both Benaissa and her ex-boyfriend, told the court "in all probability" the singer was responsible for infecting the 34-year-old man with the virus that causes AIDS.

Both were suffering from a rare type of the virus that was first found in western Africa, he said.

Benaissa told the court she became addicted to crack cocaine at 14 and that during her pregnancy at 16, she found out that she was HIV-positive.

After winning a TV talent show, Popstars, in 2000, she joined the band No Angels with four other young women and hid her illness from everyone.

No Angels sold more than five million albums before breaking up in 2003.

Eurovision a disaster

Along with three other members from the original band, Benaissa helped re-form the group in 2007. They performed to a disastrous result in the 2008 Eurovision song contest, coming in 23rd out of 25 contestants.

No Angels were heading into a concert in Frankfurt in April 2009, when Benaissa was taken into custody and kept for 10 days — a move that a German AIDS awareness group criticized as disproportionate.

The Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe group argued her partners also carried a share of the responsibility for becoming infected, and criticized the verdict.

"If the responsibility for prevention is put entirely upon women and HIV-positive people, we are not recognizing the combined responsibility of two people," said spokeswoman Marianne Rademacher.​

"The Deutsche AIDS-Hilfe group argued her partners also carried a share of the responsibility for becoming infected, and criticized the verdict.

"If the responsibility for prevention is put entirely upon women and HIV-positive people, we are not recognizing the combined responsibility of two people," said spokeswoman Marianne Rademacher."

^ I call BS on this....... and it's just an attempt to pass the blame to the victim. If the carrier doesn't tell the truth to their partner or doesn't suggest using protection and willingly and knowingly infects their partner, suddenly it's the victim's fault for not being psychic or subjecting their partner to a blood screening?

I suppose if I got shot by someone, it's my own fault for not asking them beforehand if they're going to shoot me?

Community service?

Wonderful, so after her 300 days are over, she can continue on with her life as it was before, meanwhile her victim now has to suffer a slow and painful death.

Anybody remember Trevis Smith who got 5 and a half years for infecting two women? Different country, but the laws and punishment are very similar. I call sexism on this whole situation..... she gets community services because she put on the water works and said she was sorry..... yet if a man pulled that stunt, it wouldn't matter because everybody would treat him like a monster and some sort of sexual predator.

Gotta love double standards. :-?
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[karrie]

Is it double standards? Was Trevis Smith the first person in his country to be sentenced for infecting someone with HIV? See, I assumed she is a legal precedent in Germany, and when setting legal precedent they often sentence lighter it seems on the initial cases.

But, i agree that the argument that the victim is to blame too is bull****. You place your trust in someone when you have a relationship with them. You'd have no reason, imo, to believe that a loved one would purposely expose you to a virus.

 

[JLM]

Is it double standards? Was Trevis Smith the first person in his country to be sentenced for infecting someone with HIV? See, I assumed she is a legal precedent in Germany, and when setting legal precedent they often sentence lighter it seems on the initial cases.

But, i agree that the argument that the victim is to blame too is bull****. You place your trust in someone when you have a relationship with them. You'd have no reason, imo, to believe that a loved one would purposely expose you to a virus.

Fifty years hard labour would be about right. :smile:

 

[#juan]

Is it double standards? Was Trevis Smith the first person in his country to be sentenced for infecting someone with HIV? See, I assumed she is a legal precedent in Germany, and when setting legal precedent they often sentence lighter it seems on the initial cases.

But, i agree that the argument that the victim is to blame too is bull****. You place your trust in someone when you have a relationship with them. You'd have no reason, imo, to believe that a loved one would purposely expose you to a virus.

Having unprotected sex with someone when you know you have HIV is psychopathic, selfish, stupidity. A person can carry HIV for years but any sexual partners could come down with full blown AIDS and suffer a terrible death. I can't think of a suitable punishment
for this kind of crime.