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Police charge villager with deliberate transmission of HIV
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR)
September 12, 2012

Zimbabwean police have charged a 42-year-old villager for deliberately infecting his wife with HIV.

Pitty Mpofu of Sishawe village 3 in Mbembesi, Matabeleland North province, on Tuesday 11 September 2012 appeared at Tredgold Magistrates Court in Bulawayo to answer to charges of deliberate transmission of HIV to his wife Geziwe Ncube, in contravention of Section 79 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9.23.

Prosecutors charge that Mpofu "unlawfully and knowingly deliberately" infected Ncube with HIV between the period October 2009 and June 2011 during the course of their marriage.

After a month into their marriage, Ncube reportedly tested HIV positive after undertaking an HIV test at a local hospital and went on to inform Mpofu about the test results and asked him to also undergo the same test which he reportedly turned down.

Prosecutors allege that Mpofu finally got tested for HIV sometime in 2010 when he got sick and the results showed that he was HIV positive and thereafter Ncube got phone calls from different women advising her to inform her husband to stop "going around spreading HIV" which led her to strongly believe that her husband had deliberately infected her with HIV.

Mpofu, who was represented by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) was released from custody on Tuesday 11 September 2011 after he was granted free bail by Magistrate Mabiye. He returns to court on 24 September 2012, where his lawyers will apply for referral of the matter to the Supreme Court seeking to determine the constitutionality of Section 79 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9.23.

Mpofu is the latest Zimbabwean to be prosecuted for willful transmission of HIV.

In July, Bulawayo Regional Magistrate, Owen Tagu deferred the sentencing of a woman convicted of deliberately infecting her husband with HIV after he referred the matter to the Supreme Court to determine the violation of her rights.

Samukelisiwe Mlilo was convicted of deliberately transmitting HIV to her husband in contravention of Section 79 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9.23 by Magistrate Tagu and was due for sentencing.

But her sentence was deferred pending the hearing of the Supreme Court application which was filed by ZLHR in which Mlilo wants the court to determine the constitutionality of Section79 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, Chapter 9.23.

Already, two cases filed by Insiza legislator Hon. Siyabonga Ncube and Harare resident Shirley Tavengwa challenging the constitutionality of Section 79 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act is pending in the Supreme Court.

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