The Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has acquitted a woman who had been accused by her ex-partner of having infected her with the HIV virus. As the Chamber has concluded, there is not enough evidence to dismantle the presumption of innocence of the accused.
The magistrates have expressed their doubts at the trial regarding the woman's guilt, given that the type of virus of both is different and with different road load, since one is HIV-1 and the other is HIV-2 . Furthermore, the Court has pointed out that in order to demonstrate that it was the same, it would have been necessary to provide a phylogenetic analysis of both to see their genetic composition.
On the other hand, the Chamber has explained that the evidence, being inconclusive, does not provide security or certainty to the complainant's accusations, since it cannot be assured that he did not contract the disease through other relationships.
In the ruling to which the EFE agency has had access, it is determined that it cannot be stated "unequivocally that it was the accused who infected her with the aforementioned virus, since there is no objective data that undeniably or indisputably demonstrates that circumstance".
Furthermore, the ruling adds, when "it cannot go unnoticed that the complainant, before being with her, had maintained a relationship with another person, and nothing rules out that the contagion could come from the same person or from any other form of transmission other than reported.”
However, although it is true that the man previously underwent a clinical analysis, in which HIV was not detected, before starting the relationship, "that does not rule out that the infection had not occurred previously," the ruling indicates.
However, the Chamber draws attention to the contradictions between the two parties in conflict regarding whether or not the complainant was informed of the woman's illness.
The accused declared in the trial that from the beginning of the relationship, in which they did not use protective measures, she confessed to the man that she had been a carrier of the virus since 2014. According to her version, he replied that he did not care, that He knew what the medication was for and that, at that time, he was having parallel relationships with several other women.
For his part, the man said that the condition was detected in 2019, after a year and a half of relationship with this woman. Likewise, he stated that his ex-partner never told him that he had this disease. What's more, he said that the accused justified the medicines that were in his house because he had a kidney problem.
Initially, the prosecutor asked for nine years for a crime of injuries and the payment of 300,000 euros to the man for moral damages, physical consequences and health expenses. However, the man acknowledged that the latter are paid by Social Security.
For its part, the Public Ministry came to the conclusion that the woman, even knowing that she suffered from the condition when this relationship began, never informed the victim. These arguments were supported by the private prosecution, which highlighted the contradictions that the defendant would have incurred.
Finally, the defense requested acquittal considering that sufficient evidence was not presented to dismantle the presumption of innocence.
