July 14, 2008
Man jailed for not telling boy of risk in first HIV case
By Elena Chong, Courts Correspondent
IN THE first case of its kind, a 43-year-old HIV sufferer was jailed for 12 months on Monday for having sex with a boy without telling him of the risk of contracting the infection and getting him to agree to accept that risk. Chan Mun Chiong, a former chef, pleaded guilty to performing oral sex on the 16-year-old boy at the third level male toilet of Northpoint Shopping Centre in Yishun last year.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Royce Wee said that Chan had been diagnosed to have human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV) since March 1999.
On Sept 15 2007, he was at the mall's toilet cubicle when he initiated some hand signals under the partition to the victim in the adjacent cubicle, indicating that he was interested to engage in sex.
The duo went one floor up to a cubicle for the disabled. He then performed oral sex on the boy for two to three minutes.
The DPP said Chan did not inform the victim of the risk of contracting HIV infection from him and did not get the boy's voluntary agreement to accept that risk before the sexual intercourse.
After that Chan asked the victim to turn around, but he refused. Chan persisted but the boy again refused. The victim told him to get out of the cubicle.
Angry, Chan left but followed the victim around the shopping centre. The victim became worried and approached a security officer for help.
The court heard that the boy regretted what Chan did to him and his parents no longer speak to him. The DPP said fortunately, he was not infected.
He asked Principal District Judge Bala Reddy to impose an appropriate sentence on Chan, who could have been fined up to $10,000 and/or jailed for up two years.
Under the new laws passed last month, the penalties have been upped to $50,000 or a jail term of up to 10 years or both.
