Briton sentenced to 14 years in prison for infecting women with HIV in Sweden

Source: The Canadian Press

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - A British man was sentenced Friday to 14 years in prison for infecting two young women with HIV and putting 13 more at risk of infection.

News agency TT reports that thirty-two-year-old Christer Aggett, also convicted of six counts of having sex with minors, was ordered to pay more than $428,000 in damages. The two HIV-infected women will receive the equivalent of about $134,000 - each. Aggett was charged in October with two counts of aggravated assault for allegedly infecting two girls during sex without telling them he was HIV-positive.

Solna District Court in November had found Aggett guilty of the charges but him to undergo psychiatric examination before sentencing. He also was charged with aggravated assault, or "exposing others to danger," by having unprotected sex with more than a dozen other women between 2001 and 2006 - six of them under the age of 15. They were not infected with HIV.

He confessed to most of the charges, but not to having had sex with underage girls, saying he was unaware they were so young. Aggett's lawyer, Jonas Granfelt, said his client is likely to appeal the ruling. Police suspect that Aggett had been in contact during the five-year period with at least 130 women he met via Internet chat rooms.