HIV trial set to make legal history in Canada

By Bill Dunphy
The Hamilton Spectator
(May 14, 2007)
Jury selection begins today in what is likely the first Canadian case of murder by disease.

Fifty-year-old Johnson Aziga, of Hamilton, is charged with killing two women, 48 and 29, by infecting them with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Aziga is alleged to have had unprotected sex with 13 partners without telling any of them that he had been diagnosed with HIV back in 1996: two of his partners have since died from AIDS-related illnesses, five have acquired HIV and six remain HIV negative. The liaisons are alleged to have taken place between 1999 and 2003, after Aziga had separated from his wife of 15 years.

All of the alleged victims were women. Their identities are protected by laws governing sexual assault charges.

Aziga has been in custody since his arrest in August 2003, but at the time of his arrest he was living in Hamilton and working in Toronto as an analyst for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General.

It is believed Aziga's case is the first murder charge in Canada arising from the sexual transmission of a disease and that has caused some controversy with AIDS activists saying it risks criminalizing a public health problem that is better tackled through education. And, because Aziga's case (and criminal charges arising in other AIDS cases) pivot on allegations of knowingly exposing sexual partners to the risk of HIV without informing them of the risk, they fear this case and others may lead to fewer people getting tested for HIV.