SINGAPORE: A man who had the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) passed it to his girlfriend who later became his wife and mother of his child.
He asked the woman to provide sexual services for fast cash and continued to do this after he knew she had contracted HIV from him, and even after she gave birth to their child.
The 37-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced to 20 months’ jail on Monday (Jul 22) for offences related to his involvement in sex work.
He pleaded guilty to four charges under the Women’s Charter for living on the earnings of sex work, for procuring his girlfriend for sex work and for offering her sexual services on Telegram.
Another 14 charges were considered in sentencing.
The man and his wife, who is now 43, both cannot be named due to gag orders imposed by the court.
THE CASE
The court heard that the man met his wife online and they began dating in 2014. He told her at the start that he was HIV-positive.
That same year, he suggested that the woman provide sexual services for fast cash. The pair were living together and both had jobs, but they did not have enough money for rent.
The woman disagreed initially but was eventually persuaded otherwise.
From 2014 to 2018, the pair would go to Geylang, where the woman would wait along the road while her boyfriend solicited customers for her.
He would then escort her to a hotel, following her and her customer, and waited outside until she was done.
He told his girlfriend to call him if there was any trouble and settled on rates of S$70 (US$52) to S$90 depending on the type of services provided.
They did not fix arrangements on how to split the earnings, instead using it for their shared expenses of food and rental.
In September 2017, the woman was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with HIV. They both knew she had contracted it from the offender.
Despite this, the couple both persisted with their sex work arrangements.
The man told his girlfriend not to tell her customers about her HIV status, knowing that they would not hire her otherwise.
The woman agreed, even though she knew there was a risk she could transmit it to her customers.
At some point, she told her boyfriend that she wanted to tell her customers about her status, but he advised her against it as they would reject her services.
They both knew that they were required by law to inform sexual partners of the risk of contracting HIV infection from the woman before engaging in sexual activity.
On top of this, the woman did not comply with her antiretroviral treatment (ART) from February 2018 to May 2018.
She stopped engaging in sex work sometime in 2018, when she discovered that she was pregnant with the offender’s child.
CONTINUED SEX WORK DESPITE MARRIAGE AND GIVING BIRTH
They got married in July 2018.
In 2019, the offender asked his now-wife to provide sexual services again, as family expenses were mounting after the birth of their child.
The woman again disagreed but eventually gave in after her husband persisted.
She was not happy about it, but understood that they needed money and agreed to resume charging the same rates in Geylang.
This time, the offender looked for customers by advertising his wife on Telegram. He posed as his wife and liaised with potential customers, informing them about rates and arranging appointments.
The woman would provide sexual services in hotels or the living room of the couple’s residence. Sometimes, her child was asleep at home while the sex work was ongoing.
Other times, the offender would take the child to the void deck while customers came over.
The pair provided the customers with condoms and asked that they use them, concealing the fact that the woman was HIV-positive. However, not all customers used protection.
Even after the woman moved out in December 2020 due to “household problems”, their sex work arrangement went on, court documents stated.
On Mar 15, 2022, the offender texted his wife to tell her about a customer. The woman refused to serve him and said she no longer wanted to be a sex worker.
She said she had informed her father about the arrangement.
The offender replied not to tell anyone about it and not to involve her dad. He asked her to block her father and delete his number, and said he would talk to her.
However, the woman lodged a police report.
Although the man regularly deleted conversations with the customers, investigations revealed he had spoken to at least 12 prospective customers on Telegram between December 2021 and March 2022.
The prosecutor sought 21 to 22 months’ jail for the offender, saying the period of offending was “substantial” at about four years.
The offender had used a residential property for prostitution and instructed the woman to service customers despite knowing about her condition and obligations to disclose her HIV status.
Those with HIV are no longer legally required to disclose the risk of contracting it to their sexual partners as long as they have maintained undetectable viral loads for at least six months, under a Bill passed in Parliament in March.
CNA has contacted the prosecution on whether the woman was prosecuted, and if she passed HIV to anyone else.
