Jamaican man gets 3 years for knowingly infecting UK woman with HIV
A Jamaican man has been sentenced to three years imprisonment in the United Kingdom for knowingly infecting a woman with HIV.
A Chester Crown Court handed down the sentence against Jamaican-born Jermaine Scott, 39, on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm.
Scott was reportedly diagnosed with the potentially deadly virus in 2005 and had been prescribed medicine to control the disease and minimize the risk of spreading it to others.
In 2009, Scott and the victim, who he had previously had a relationship with, rekindled their relationship. However, Scott, who had not been regularly taking his medication, did not reveal his HIV status to the woman while proceeding to have unprotected sex with her, and infecting her with the disease.
After the woman tested positive for the disease, Scott reportedly fled and was the subject of a police manhunt.
Scott was held in 2011 but there was insufficient evidence at the time to charge him with knowingly infecting the woman with HIV. He was deported nine months later to Jamaica after it was found that he had been living in the UK illegally.
However, police and medical experts eventually established a genetic link between Scott’s strain of HIV and that of the woman he infected, and he was extradited to the UK in 2022.
After Scott’s sentencing, the investigating officer said the victim was “forever marred” by Scott’s actions and that she has suffered “physically and psychologically” to the extent where she no longer trusts men.
The officer reportedly said while no sentence against the offender would be adequate, it is hoped that it brings the victim some closure.
