Her sentence was reduced by 3 years.
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Last Updated on: 20th January 2023, 07:52 pm
The woman pleaded guilty and survived a maximum sentence of 10 years for the crime.
Lira chief magistrate court on Thursday sentenced a woman to 7 years in prison for deliberately pricking a minor with her HIV/AIDs infected blood.
The woman pleaded guilty to the charges before chief magistrate Abiti Samson Loum.
Court heard that now a convict, in 2021, she knowingly drew her blood and injected it with her stepson who was aged five.
While delivering his judgment, Loum said the offense attracted a maximum sentence of 10 years. But because the accused pleaded guilty to the charges of deliberately infecting the minor with HIV/AIDs, the court reduced her sentence to 7 years.
The boy’s father was emotional after the woman was handed a 7-year jail sentence, crying endlessly.
He later told reporters: “My son is innocent and did not deserve such cruel treatment from her stepmother.”
In March 2014, Uganda passed a law that criminalizes the deliberate transmission of HIV/AIDs with the view of curbing the fast spread of the disease.
Section 43 of Uganda’s HIV/AIDs Prevention and Control Act states that a person who willfully and intentionally transmits HIV to another person commits an offense, and on conviction shall be liable to a fine of not more than one hundred and twenty currency points or imprisonment for a term of not more than ten years or to both.
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In recent years, several other African countries have passed laws against transmitting HIV. Some include Kenya, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
Some American States also have such laws.
Other countries in European have prosecuted people for transmitting HIV under different laws against harming others.
By Bobson Opio & Frank Oyugi
There are people campaigning for the repeal of section 43 of the HIV Prevention and Control Act about intentional transmission of HIV claiming transmission of HIV is not intentional. This is very painful! What if the child was their own, would they just leave the culprit to go freely? Realy? If caught, they should just face the law unless not found guilty! The child has already been infected and will be on ARVs for life. Actually the law should be amended for a life imprisonment if convicted! Thank you for publishing the news! Please continue exposing people who intentionally transmit HIV to others!!!