A former South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldier received a life sentence for r@ping and infected his partner with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
Leon Santos Conga, 48, was sentenced by the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in Gauteng, Conga was sentenced to life in jail for r@ping his girlfriend at the time.
“He was given an additional 10 year direct imprisonment for attempted murder for knowingly exposing and factually infecting his girlfriend with HIV,” said NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana, adding that both sentences would run concurrently.
Explaining the merits of the case, the NPA said Conga and the victim were in a love relationship for four months between 2016 and 2017.
“Before the two began their relationship, the victim had done an HIV test on December 1, 2016 which came back HIV negative.
“When the two started their relationship, the victim raised the HIV conversation and insisted on knowing Conga’s HIV status.
“Conga then lied and misled the victim and told her that he was HIV negative, hence his employer was able to deploy him outside the country.
“However, the victim came with the condition in their relationship that ‘no condom, no s3x’.”
