Prague, Oct 10 (CTK) – The Prague High Court softened on Tuesday the sentences for two suspects who might have knowingly spread HIV, a female prostitute and a man, whose sentences were lowered from seven to five years and from 11.5 to nine years, respectively.
Sabina Kapurova, 28, had sex, protected as well as unprotected, with almost 40 men, though she knew she was HIV-positive in 2012-2016.
She faced up to 12 years in prison for an attempted causing of a bodily harm and spread of a contagious disease.
Her defence said the unprotected sex she had was only oral, and she believed that the risk of infection is not that high in such cases.
The court of appeals took into account that she infected no one, confessed to her offence, and is a mother of two children.
Tuesday’s verdict is definitive.
In the other case, the court of appeals stated on Tuesday that the previous verdicts on Zdenek Pfeifer were too tough.
Pfeifer, though HIV-positive, had sex with dozens of men, and infected two, including a 14-year-old boy.
Pfeifer pleads innocent. He insists that he did not have sex with an underage boy and did inform his partners about his disease.
The court changed the previous verdict’s formulation that the motive of Pfeifer’s crime was condemnable.
“The accused man has a higher sexual appetence, which cannot be viewed as a condemnable motive,” judge Michal Hodousek said.
Pfeifer said his trial and conviction was an act of vengeance by the investigating police officer whose boyfriend left him, preferring Pfeifer as a partner.
He said the damaged persons are lying, but Hodousek said the court has no reason not to trust their testimony.
Pfeifer was sentenced for eight crimes including the harming of another’s health, spreading of a contagious disease, sexual abuse and production of child pornography.
He has to pay financial compensation to some men he harmed, including the body, now juvenile, whom Pfeifer has to pay more than one million crowns.
When Pfeifer was investigated, he left for Thailand. He denies having fled. The police sought him from January 2016. In 2017, he was arrested in Thailand and extradited to the Czech Republic where he ended in custody pending his trial result.
