A man convicted of raping a woman collapsed after being informed that his victim was HIV positive.
Richard Thomas, 27 is now faced with a terrible waiting period to find out if he contracted the deadly HIV/Aids virus from his victim.
Thomas broke into the Greater Manchester, UK home of an acquaintance on July 20th to find the unidentified woman asleep in her bed. The victim had taken a sleeping pill but awoke to find Thomas raping her from behind.
Thomas later claimed that he was under the influence of multiple drugs including cocaine and ecstasy, and did not recall the incident but believed the woman’s version of events.
Thomas knew the victim and knew she had another illness but was unaware she had HIV, and the Daily Mail reports that he collapsed and asked to be taken to the hospital when police informed him that he could be infected.
“It is his own fault,” his own lawyer told the court. “If he had not committed this offense he would not have placed himself in this position.”
While waiting for the HIV test results, Judge Mark Brown presiding over the case ordered that Thomas be sentenced to five years and four months, as well as giving him a permanent listing on the Sex Offenders Register for the “dreadful offense.”
Hayton, Thomas’s lawyer described Thomas as agonizing over the night’s events. Thomas has previous convictions but none for sexual assault or rape.
“[Thomas] is remorseful and cannot understand why he did it and it is troubling him,” Hayton said. She also noted that Thomas has a long history with drugs and alcohol, having started to use cannabis at age 9 and then drinking by 11. Thomas also said he was addicted to cocaine and ecstasy at 13 and received treatment for the addictions during his teenage years.
The same cannot be said when victims of sexual assault await their test results. Perhaps this table-turning case will raise awareness of what women and men who survive rape go through even after the incident itself are over.
Sources: OpposingViews, BBC, The Telegraph, Mirror, Daily Mail