A Montrealer who pleaded guilty to criminal negligence for passing on HIV to two intimate partners is now recanting his plea and seeking a trial to boost his chances of staying in Canada.
• Read more: Her ex-husband condemned her to live with HIV forever
“At the time of entering the guilty plea, unconsciousness arose from a situation that was very difficult for the defendant to manage emotionally. […]He found himself in a state of dissociation”, states Alfredo José in his request heard this morning in a Montreal court.
Jose, 59, is a former nudist dancer who hid his HIV-positive status from his partners. However, despite this, the accused did not care to defend himself. Indeed, in the case of both victims, the relationships were numerous and “never protected”, the summary of facts points out.
Two victims
So, he passed the virus to his first partner in 2008.
“He developed health problems in 2008 and following some medical tests, he learned to be an HIV carrier”, we can read in the court document?
After 5 years the woman found out that Jose was the one who spread the virus to her after seeing a jar of triple therapy pills in the name of the accused.
The second victim discovered the pot of roses in 2015 after speaking to the accused’s ex-wife.
Arrested in 2016 and charged with aggravated sexual assault, Jose shortened his trial by pleading guilty to a reduced charge of criminal negligence causing bodily harm. That was in 2020.
However, for three years, the case has been dragging on, so Jose has yet to be convicted. Delays are likely to increase as the accused now wants to withdraw his plea because he misunderstood the consequences of choosing to plead guilty.
“I can’t read or write,” Jose testified Monday in Spanish with the help of an interpreter.
Other people’s fault
In his motion, he accused his former lawyer of doing his job poorly and misrepresenting the consequences of his status in Canada, even though the latter claimed to have done a job according to the rules. Art. , among other things by referring his client to an immigration attorney.
“The judge should have inquired to ensure that the accused understood the consequences […]Especially with regard to the consequences at the level of the immigration file”, Jose supports his claim.
The trial, before Judge Yves Paradis, is scheduled to take three days of court hearings.
If the request is denied, it will take several weeks for Jose to receive the sentence. But if the accused reaches his end, the delays can be counted in months, because everything has to be started all over again.
“Music geek. Coffee lover. Devoted food scholar. Web buff. Passionate internet guru.”
