ANTHONY ATWELL defended a murder charge for killing his wife on the grounds that she infected him with the deadly HIV virus, but he himself went on to have sex with at least two other women.
In renewing his call yesterday for legislation to have persons jailed who deliberately infect others with HIV/AIDS, Justice Anthony Carmona sentenced Atwell, 43, to 25 years with hard labour for stabbing Gail Auguste to death on the Point Fortin main road in 2003.
The judge justified the stiff sentence on the guilty verdict by a jury last week Tuesday on the lesser count of manslaughter, on the ground that Atwell cohabited with other women.
Atwell also has a past criminal record of 14 convictions, the judge added.
Carmona told Atwell in the San Fernando High court yesterday that he (Atwell) had attempted to hoodwink the court by wrongly informing him that he was being administered only pain killers in jail for HIV. But it was revealed by the State yesterday that Atwell, though in prison, is an out-patient of the Medical Research Foundation (MRF) headed by Professor Courtenay Bartholomew, and receives the best treatment the country could offer for HIV/AIDS victims.
When Carmona passed the sentence yesterday, and as Atwell was being led away from the dock by police officers, he replied: “Ah go rot in jail?”
Atwell was found guilty by a jury last week Tuesday on the lesser count of manslaughter in a trial for murder. He met Auguste, 34, on King’s Wharf, San Fernando, and within three months he married her in Point Fortin.
In 2003, Auguste left Atwell and went to live with another man, Anslem Joseph. He stabbed Auguste with a knife he bought in a ‘Ten dollar’ store in Point Fortin.
Carmona deferred sentencing to yesterday after he heard pleas in mitigation from attorney Wilston Campbell, on the accused’s behalf. Campbell had complained to the judge that Atwell received only pain killers and antibiotics in jail for his HIV illness.
But this was disputed yesterday by State Attorney Mauricia Joseph, who supplied the judge with medical records from the MRF, which indicated that Atwell, since his incarceration for the murder, had been subjected to regular blood tests. Joseph said that it was untrue to propagate the notion that the accused was not been attended to by the MRF and administered appropriate HIV drugs. Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Kathy Ann Waterman-Lachoo, prosecuted the trial.
Carmona told Atwell yesterday that he must pass sentence consistent with the jury’s verdict of manslaughter, in which they obviously believed that he had become enraged by Auguste for infecting him with HIV. But when Auguste left Atwell, the judge noted, the accused in his own testimony, admitted to having a one-night-stand with a woman in Point Fortin name Cleopatra, and another woman, who was not named.
Auguste’s new husband after she left Atwell, Carmona said, was Joseph. He died and the court during the trial, was not furnished with medical evidence as to what he died from.
Carmona called for criminalisation of the deliberate and reckless spreading of HIV and yesterday he renewed his call. His call had gained the support of the Ministry of the Attorney General, Law Association of Trinidad and Tobago and MRF’s director Prof Bartholomew. The Attorney General office in a release, stated that the Law Reform Commission had been mandated to examine the Offences Against the Persons Act, with a view to incorporating anti HIV/AIDS legislation as obtained in some foreign countries.
But Carmona said yesterday that there should not be a “witch-hunt”approach to such legislation. The judge said, “It should not be used to derail the gains and efforts to prevent HIV transmission, or encourage safe sex, HIV testing and disclosure by persons who have the disease.”
The judge put forward the suggestion yesterday that in framing such legislation, there should be guidelines to control how the police and the State, prosecute such persons. It must amount to a deliberate, and or reckless act of infecting another person, Carmona said. Carmona said that the threshold that must be met for a conviction of a person who consciously spread HIV, or by an reckless act, must be based on similar criminal law principle of “Proof beyond a reasonable doubt”.
