Semba Judgement, High Court of Zimbabwe (2015)
Judge Charles Hungwe's reasoning that allowed the appeal on behalf of a 26 year old woman, was charged with the crime of deliberate transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (“HIV”) as defined in s 79 (1) (a) of the Criminal Law Code for briefly mistakenly breastfeeding another woman's baby.
The judgement found that the prosecution was "ill-conceived as the legislature did not intend that breast-feeding by infected but ignorant women be criminalised. In any event there was no proof that the appellant fully appreciated that her conduct would result in HIV transmission. In the result she was entitled to an acquittal at her trial."
- Alternative links
- Traduction française automatisée, Brief news story on post-appeal aquittal
Brief Amicus Curiae of American Academy of HIV Medicine, Association of Nurses in AIDS Care, Center for HIV Law and Policy, HIV Medicine Association, and Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Inc., in Support of Defendant-Appellant David Plunkett
Principle witness requests that testimony be withdrawn and that the case be reviewed.
Criminalising contagion – Legislative epidemics: the role of model law in the transnational trend to criminalise HIV transmission
Explains how an epidemic of HIV criminalisation laws spread across the West and Central Africa regions enabled by model laws (the N'Djamena Model Law) drafted by USAID.
“Criminalization Creep”: A brief discussion of the criminalization of HIV/AIDS nondisclosure in Canada
Provides an overview and analysis of criminal cases of HIV exposure and transmission to 2010, and proposes policy options for addressing the problems posed by the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure.