Barrie Criminal Lawyers

Barrie Resident Sentenced for HIV Sex Assault

A 39 year old female Barrie resident, Jennifer Murphy, was sentenced to 39 months in prison on September 20, 2013.  Her sentence was a result of her having unprotected occasional sex without informing her partner of her HIV positive state.

Considering that Murphy had already served 15 months while her case worked its way through the courts, Justice Gregory Mulligan accepted a joint submission from the defence and crown to give her credit for that period she had already served.

She was convicted of one count of aggravated sexual assault on August 16th because she purposely did not use a condom when having sex with a man, knowing that he was unaware of her condition. This incident had taken place two years ago and luckily, because of her low viral count at the time, the man did not contract the HIV virus.

Unfortunately for Murphy, because it was not her first time being sentenced on the same charge, she was sentenced to serve 3 years’ probation after being released from prison and will be added to the sex offender registry. The previous sentence was in 2005, she had been sentenced to a year of house arrest after failing to tell a Base Borden soldier about her very severe HIV status.

Despite the fact that this time, Murphy’s viral status was medically undetectable during the trial, and that she was extremely unlikely to infect her partners, the Supreme Court still ruled that a person with an undetectable viral levels must inform their partner of their HIV status unless they also wear a condom.