London: A fitness trainer who knowingly infected two unsuspecting young women with HIV has been jailed for five years.
Simon James was awarded the sentence by a Bristol court in United Kingdom for failing to tell women with whom he had unprotected sex that he had HIV.
The 46 year old contracted the HIV virus in 1995 and was supposed to be taking medication to lower the risk of him passing it on.
Simon, in his defence, told the court that he did not wear condoms because he was allergic to latex and condoms did not fit in.
The prosecution told the court that " Simon told her first girlfriend he was HIV positive, but he also told her that he took medication, that the virus was undetectable in his system and that he was therefore safe and non-infectious.
“She believed him, accepted what he said, and their relationship and sex life continued as before."
But she found out she had HIV after they split up.
Just after a few months Simon started dating another woman and had unprotected sex with her multiple times. She was later told by her ex-girl friend that he had HIV.
But when the complainant confronted him, he once again said he was not infectious, and they continued to have sex without condoms.
She later found out even she had contracted HIV .
He later admitted he had the virus but insisted the medication he was taking eradicated any risk of the women contracting it.
But he was not taking medication or attending hospital appointments during the time he had unprotected sex with the women, the court was informed.
He was found guilty of two counts of grievous bodily harm by recklessly transmitting HIV following a trial in October.
