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Singapore. When a 48-year-old HIV-infected man pleaded guilty last November to having had sex with another man in May 2009 without revealing his status, he knew he might have to go to jail.

Since then, his sentencing has been adjourned a few times to give him time to settle his affairs — including telling his wife about this court case.

He could not bring himself to do it.

He told The Straits Times last month that she knew he had tested positive for the virus that causes Aids, but he could not tell her about his conviction because she was already stressed in her administrative job.

“I can’t burden her more. I don’t know how to face her,” the former quality assurance technician said.

She now knows. The 40-year-old woman told The Straits Times yesterday that he broke the news to her just before Chinese New Year, but said she was in no frame of mind to say more.

The couple have no children.

Her slim, short and bespectacled husband, who did not have a lawyer, broke down in tears yesterday on hearing that he would be behind bars for 1-1/2 years.

A gag order against naming him is in force. He is the second HIV-infected man to have been given an 18-month jail term for having gone ahead with a sexual tryst with a 37-year-old male while keeping mum about his HIV status.

Last month, a former engineer aged 27 received the same sentence for having sex with the same 37-year-old man in January 2009.

That 37-year-old is now HIV-positive as well, but the Health Ministry cannot ascertain who infected him.

In passing sentence yesterday, District Judge Janet Wang said it is not the intention of the legislature to enforce the law against every HIV-infected person.

However, she added, the penalties for keeping one’s HIV status a secret and failing to obtain a sex partner’s consent to being exposed to the risk of infection are in place for deterrence and to reflect the gravity of such offences.

The judge said that, for his own sexual gratification, the accused had knowingly concealed his HIV status from his male sex partner, which she said was ‘highly unconscionable’ and showed a disregard for the other person’s well-being.

“Such a deliberate omission only heightens his culpability,” she said.

The accused could have been fined up to $50,000 and/or jailed for up to 10 years.

He had told The Straits Times last month that in 2009, he met the 37-year-old online and bought a bottle of “poppers” from him at $20.

This street drug is inhaled to enhance sexual satisfaction.

The 48-year-old said he was retrenched in 2008 and landed a job two years ago, doing ISO audit.

“Sometimes I feel like killing myself. But I can’t do it... I hold back because of my family,” he added.

He had told the court at an earlier hearing in December that he could not have infected the 37-year-old, as he had been on the receiving end in that sexual encounter, and it was protected sex.

But the prosecutor said the 37-year-old was unable to confirm that a condom had been used.

Reprinted courtesy of Straits Times Indonesia. To subscribe to Straits Times Indonesia and/or the Jakarta Globe call 021 2553 5055.