S'pore man prostitutes wife to other men after passing HIV to her, gets 20 months jail

A 37-year-old man with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) persuaded his wife to provide sexual services to other men even though he had also passed the virus to her.

He also asked his wife to continue doing this after she was found to be HIV-positive and following the birth of their child, according to court documents seen by Mothership.

The man was jailed 20 months after he was convicted on four charges.

One charge pertained to offering his partner's sexual services on Telegram, another for living on the earnings of her sex work, and the remaining two for procuring her for sexual services.

A total of 14 other charges were also taken into consideration.

Suggested his partner provide sexual services while they were dating to pay rent

Court documents showed that the man and his partner first met online in 2014 and started dating.

Both of them eventually got married on Jul. 19, 2018.

While dating, the man also informed the woman at the outset that he was HIV-positive.

Later in 2014, when they entered into a relationship and were living together in rented accommodation, the accused suggested to the victim that she provide sexual services for cash as they did not have enough money for rent.

Initially, the woman disagreed but the man persuaded her by alluding to their financial difficulty.

Solicited for customers at Geylang

Hence, from between sometime in 2014 to sometime in 2018, both of them would go to Geylang where the man would solicit customers for her while she waited along the road.

He would then escort her and the customer to a hotel and wait outside until they were done.

They settled on a rate of S$70 to S$90, depending on the service that she provided.

There were no fixed arrangements on how the earnings were to be split and they used the money for their shared expenditure on food and rent.

Diagnosed with HIV in 2017

In September 2017, the woman was admitted to Tan Tock Seng hospital and diagnosed with HIV.

Both the victim and the accused knew that she had contracted HIV from him.

The accused also told his partner not to inform customers that she was HIV-positive as he knew that customers would not engage her services if they were aware.

The woman agreed, even though she knew that there was a risk she could transmit the virus to them.

At one point, the victim told the man that she wanted to inform her customers but the accused told her again not to do so as the customers would reject her.

Both of them were aware that the woman was required by law to inform her partners about the risk of contracting HIV from her before engaging in sexual activity.

The woman also did not comply with her antiretroviral treatment from February 2018 to May 2018.

From 2014 to 2018, the victim earned more than S$500.

Stopped for a while after having their first child

This arrangement ended sometime in 2018 when the victim discovered that she was pregnant with their first child.

However, at some point in 2019, the accused suggested that the victim should provide sexual services again in light of their mounting family expenses following the birth of their first child.

Initially, the victim disagreed again but the accused persisted by alluding to their financial difficulty.

Even though the victim was unhappy with providing sexual services, she agreed in light of their financial situation.

This time, the accused solicited for customers through Telegram.

He would pose as his wife and tell prospective customers her rates and services and arrange for appointments with the victim.

His wife would provide sexual services in a hotel or in the living room of their residence.

Sometimes, their child would be asleep when the victim provided her services.

At other times, the accused would bring the child to the void deck when the customers came.

Both the man and his wife would provide customers with condoms and request that they wear it.

However, not all of the customers wore a condom.

The couple also did not inform their customers that the victim was HIV-positive.

Refused to continue in March 2022

This arrangement persisted even after the accused moved out of their residence in December 2020, due to household problems.

On Mar. 15, 2022, the accused informed his wife about a customer over WhatsApp.

She refused to serve the customer and told the accused she no longer wanted to be a sex worker and added that she had informed her father about the arrangement.

The accused responded by telling her not to tell anybody and to not involve her father.

He also told her to block her father, delete his number and said he would return home to talk to her.

However, she lodged a police report on Mar. 16, 2022.

Court documents stated that the accused would regularly delete his conversations with his wife's customers.

However, investigations revealed conversations between the accused and no less than 12 prospective customers on Telegram between Dec. 20, 2021 and Mar. 15, 2022.

In their sentencing submissions, the prosecution called for a jail term of 21 to 22 months.

They noted that the period of offending was "substantial", at about four years.

At the time of the man's offences, HIV-positive people had to inform their partners about their condition before engaging in sexual activity.

Following an amendment to the Infectious Diseases Act on Mar. 7, 2024, people living with HIV will no longer need to disclose the risk of contracting the virus to their partners before sexual activity if they have maintained an undetectable viral load for at least six months.

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