A 30-year-old Ottawa man accused of not disclosing his HIV status to sexual partners has had four attempted murder charges dropped against him following a preliminary hearing, Ontario Court Justice David Wake ruled. One aggravated sexual assault charge was also dropped.
That still leaves 21 charges. The accused is committed to stand trial on three counts of aggravated sexual assault, one count of attempted aggravated sexual assault, three counts of sexual assault, two counts of administering a noxious thing, two counts of attempting to administer a noxious thing. He also faces eight counts of breaching probation and two counts of possession of child pornography.
After 11 days of preliminary hearings, the court heard from a total of nine witnesses. There is a publication ban on all evidence presented during this level of the court proceedings.
The man’s accusers are protected by a publication ban; Xtra has declined to publish the name of the accused.
The accused also faces charges relating to similar events in Kitchener.
There, he is charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of failure to comply with probation conditions. His co-accused is a 25-year-old Kitchener man, also accused of not disclosing his HIV status before having unprotected sex. He is facing two charges of aggravated sexual assault after allegedly having a foursome with the Ottawa accused and with two other men in Kitchener. In Kitchener, the accused has a pretrial motion date Nov 28 and jury selection will commence Feb 27, 2012.
The Ottawa trial will be heard by judge and jury. The accused has another bail hearing Aug 18.
To date, he has been jailed in protective custody for more than 14 months.
Last year, Ottawa police set off nationwide debate after his photo was attached to an email sent out by the Police Liaison Committee to the queer community with the phrase “sexual predator” attached to it.
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