Police in Lagos have arrested a 64-year-old James Turner man from the Republic Ireland for allegedly infecting his girlfriend with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
There was a mild drama at the Ikeja Police Station where the suspect and the lady were pointing accusing finger at each other for infecting other with the HIV virus.
The state police command spokesperson SP Dolapo Badmos while briefing journalists on Friday about the incident stated that the police arrested Mr. Turner following the complaints by his girlfriend (name withheld) that he infected her and other Nigerian girls deliberately.
Badmos said: “On October 13, the Ikeja Police Division got a report from a lady that a friend of hers deliberately infected her with HIV. But there seems to be counter allegations from both lovers.
But we later discovered that the foreigner infected the lady with the virus and this is a crime under Section 24 of the Sexual Act of Nigeria. If it is a deliberate act, the law will take its full course.”
The victim who explained how she was infected by his lover said, it was through the drug that he was given that she got to know that he has been infected with the virus. She said: “I met him eight years ago while I was working as a real estate agent.
I travelled to Kaduna to sell a property because we couldn’t sell it and James assisted me in renting the property to NNPC that was how we became friends.” “We started dating proper in 2014, but during that period I noticed he was always sweating and falling ill.
I went with him to the hospital for checkup, when we got there I was prevented from hearing what the doctor told him.” ”When we got back home, I asked him what the illness was about and he told me it was fever.
I noticed that he started taking some drugs secretly, but would never allow me to see them. He was also making love to me vigorously as if he was madly in love with me. I also noticed that he was still taking his medication.
”When I could not bear it any longer, I questioned him again but he said he was only taking drugs for leg pains. One night when he was sleeping, I took the drugs and went to goggle to search for it. That was how I found out that the drug was an antiretroviral drug.
I went to him again but he denied it. ”After I knew what was happening I went to see his doctor and he told me that James was HIV positive. Thereafter the doctor conducted a test on me and it came out positive that I am HIV carrier. My blood sample was sent to a laboratory at Yaba, where it was also confirmed that I was positive.
“The doctor later called and advised him to take care of my medical bills and compensate me for deliberately infecting me with HIV. He agreed but when we got home, he told me to go to hell that he would not cater for me and called me a thief and blackmailer. That action prompted me to move out of his house and rented my own apartment.”
The victim said after infecting her, Turner also went and slept with my girlfriend without protection. I decided to expose him because I see what he’s doing as a deliberate action, to spread the disease to Nigerian girls.
“He is doing it deliberately because when he found out that he was HIV positive, he stopped having sex with his wife and sent her back to his country and threatened to expose me that I couldn’t do anything that I would face stigmatization.
I however took courage and reported him to the police for proper prosecution.” Mr. Turner during interrogation, prevented journalists for taking his photograph, claiming that the lady was a thief who only wanted his money, that she was the one who infected him with the virus.
The spokesperson however said, the suspect would be charge to court after completion of investigation.
