Marie* and Sonia* were in love and “
trusted
”, until a discovery that “
destroyed
” them.
These two women from the Paris region accuse a man of having knowingly transmitted HIV to them, and fear that this "
Don Juan
" has made multiple victims.
Read alsoAIDS: the story of the "patient of Esperanza" who naturally struck down HIV
"
We can't go back, he ruined our lives,
" breathes Marie, 30, who lives in Seine-et-Marne.
Last July, she decided to file a complaint against a work colleague, a telecoms salesperson, who was her companion for six months.
“You come back to this thing again”
At 34, Jordan – her nickname – has a reputation as a heartthrob, but in the summer of 2020 she fell in love with this “
husky
” and “
quite charismatic
” man, she describes. “
I relied on trust. He was not at all suspect, we had known each other for months
, ”recounts Marie, who accepts unprotected sex after reassuring words from her partner. From September 2020, she noticed the appearance of worrying symptoms, first thinking of a flu-like state. But after analysis, the verdict falls: Marie is infected with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). She must now take lifelong treatment. “
The first thing that came to my mind was to fuck me up
“says the young woman, also a mother of two children.
“
He told me so much nonsense!
»
Faced with the fait accompli, Jordan declares having contracted the virus four months earlier, she recalls.
But shows no empathy or willingness to heal.
“
You come back to this thing again
”, “
we have already talked about it, what will change
”, “
I live and I do with it
”, he replies in messages consulted by AFP.
Read alsoHIV: the number of screenings and new diagnoses down in France in 2020
In reality, the young man has known for several years that he is HIV positive. At least since he underwent a test in 2017 as part of an investigation in Créteil (Val-de-Marne), for similar facts. This first procedure was closed without follow-up, for lack of sufficient evidence to certify that the 30-year-old knew his HIV status at the time of the events. But Sonia, the 32-year-old young woman who initiated this complaint, does not give up. In 2020, she filed a new complaint which led to the opening of a judicial investigation. Which seems to be at a standstill. She gave AFP a story similar to that of Marie, whom she does not know.
She also assures that the virus was "
knowingly transmitted
to her " by this man, "
a big chatterbox, a manipulator
" very active on dating sites, the starting point of their story.
“
I had to insist that he put on a condom, he really didn't like it and sometimes took it off in the middle of the action.
He assured me he was clean
,” she says.
When she discovers his HIV status, he plays down.
“
He told me it was nothing, that today we live very well with it, he reassured me about this disease and after...black out, no more news.
»
"Sexual breach of trust"
Marie's complaint has seen first progress with, on December 15, the indictment of her ex-companion for "
premeditated administration of a harmful substance on a spouse with ITT for more than eight days
", according to the prosecution of Meaux. The young man was remanded in custody. During his hearing in Noisiel, without a lawyer, he remained "
prostrate
", without recognizing or denying the facts, according to a source familiar with the matter.
At least five other women were also heard by investigators from Seine-et-Marne, who expect to find other potential victims.
“
There is a serial side
”, slips this source.
"
He's a salesman who travels all over France, he must have had victims everywhere without them knowing it
", worries Sonia.
Read alsoMan sentenced to six years in prison for transmitting HIV to his girlfriend
This procedure "
will trigger things because there is no longer any debate on the question of his HIV status
", underlines his lawyer Me Maud Guillemet, who asks that the two investigations be joined. To characterize the voluntary transmission of HIV, which in the eyes of justice leads to “
permanent disability
”, the author must indeed be aware of his HIV status and the risks of contamination during sexual intercourse. "
The principle of the relationship is that you lower the barriers, you can't imagine being lied to about things like that, that's why these women are shattered, they fall out of the closet
“, explains Me Éric Morain, Marie’s lawyer.
The facts, complex and touching intimacy, are based on a “
sexual breach of trust
”, notes Me Morain, who pleaded in the emblematic Christophe Morat case. In 2005, the Colmar Court of Appeal (Haut-Rhin) sentenced this inveterate seducer to six years in prison for having transmitted the virus to two former companions whom he had not informed of his HIV status. Upon his release from prison, he repeated, claiming to certain partners that there was no risk since he did not ejaculate in them. A woman had been infected. In 2014 the Assize Court of Bouches-du-Rhône sentenced him to 12 years in prison.
Globally, 1.5 million people were infected with HIV in 2020, and 680,000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses.
*Names have been changed
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