Wayne Cunningham says Rubara goes beyond existing scientific consensus
By Julius Melnitzer | October 28, 2022
The Ontario Court of Appeal has overturned a six-year-old aggravated sexual assault conviction of a man who did not disclose his HIV-positive status to a sexual partner of three months’ standing.
The decision in R. v. Rubara expands on the court’s August judgment in R. v. Murphy, where the court voided a similar conviction. In both cases, the accused did not reveal their HIV status to an unprotected partner. But in each case, the court relied on new scientific evidence to refute the realistic possibility of transmission and overturn the conviction.
Murphy, however, involved a single vaginal encounter where the accused had been on antiretroviral treatment that rendered her viral load undetectable; Rubara involved repeated unprotected sex over a three-month relationship where the accused was not on ART but was an “elite controller” who maintained a naturally suppressed viral load that was not infectious. READ MORE
Julius Melnitzer is a Toronto-based legal affairs writer, ghostwriter, writing coach and media trainer. Readers can reach him at [email protected] or https://legalwriter.net/contact.
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