Man Found Guilty of First-degree Murder in HIV Case

Several Canadian courts have ruled that persons who are not informed that a sexual partner is HIV-positive cannot truly give consent to sex. As a consequence of this, the death of the two women is automatically considered to be murder instead of a lesser charge such as manslaughter.

The trial, which began in October, is the first in Canada involving someone being charged with lethally infecting partners with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Aziga was accused of transmitting the virus while having unprotected sex with co-workers and women he met in bars and nightclubs.

Seven women became infected, two died of AIDS-related illnesses, and four were exposed to HIV but tested negative.  The jury was tasked with deciding whether the infections and deaths were conclusively linked to Aziga.

The Crown said two women, whom Aziga met while working for the Ontario government, died after he failed to warn them he was HIV-positive, even though he had been aware of it since 1996 and was under public-health orders to do so