A CFL player was recently charged with aggravated sexual assault, and released on bail. The fact that he is HIV+ has made this story interesting. The conditions of his bail are what caught my ear, and the actions of the RCMP are the icing on the proverbial cake of sucking.
Bail requirements:
- No sex without a condom
- Disclose to any sexual partner his HIV+ status.
- No involvement with the sex trade
- Cannot go to bars or nightclubs
- 11pm to 7am curfew
- Not be alone with any female under the age of 14 (other than his wife and family)
- No contact or visits with the complainants
- Maintain residence in Regina
- Surrender his passport (if he has one)
OK, those all look reasonable. Some of them seem heavy-handed (and it is rather sad that they need to be stated – I would hope they would simply be good sense). Anyone who is HIV+ and who has sex with someone without disclosing this information to that person is committing a crime in my mind, but if the judge wanted to explicitly state that, then that’s fine.
Passport, Regina, yeah, those all make sense. Curfew? OK, he is on bail after all. Cannot go to a bar? Can’t be with females under 14? What the hell?!?!
I don’t know the details of the victim in this case, and those details may change my interpretation of this situation. But simply saying that he cannot be alone with females under 14 just sounds thick-headed to me. But judges will be judges. He’s innocent until proven guilty, but I guess the judge thought he was some kind of risk to females under 14.
But then the RCMP decided it was in the public’s best interest to know that this man is HIV+ – a personal health fact that frankly should not have been publicized. The claim behind the action would be that the public is being exposed to a risk, and so they should be informed of that risk. I call bullshit.
Is anyone’s behaviour towards this man going to change with this announcement? Yes.
Is anyone’s risk of being infected with HIV going to change with this announcement? Likely not.
Are people going to ask that he wear a condom or take protective measures before he sexually assaults them because the RCMP let us know he is HIV+? Are we going to be particularly careful when shaking his hand? What utter stupidity.
The truth is that even people who test as HIV- can be carriers of the virus, so any interaction you take with another person that could potentially result in your getting infected should be treated as a risk. To do otherwise is simply ignoring the fact that HIV- people can infect you with HIV. It comes down to an amount of risk I suppose. The chances of an HIV- person actually carrying HIV is much lower than that of an HIV+ person.
But who is this man going to be in contact with, such that a massive public announcement about his HIV status needed to be issued? Which parts of society are going to be better prepared to deal with him as a person now that we know? One of his basic rights as a member of society has been violated with no real point. Even if he is guilty as hell for the assault his right to privacy of medical records should remain intact.
Maybe the RCMP Publicity Dept was having a slow day. But frankly I just shake my head sometimes. For once I hope a lawyer gets involved in this situation – this man’s rights have been violated.