AIBU to think a 14 month sentence for passing on herpes is thin end of wedge?

[Cheria]

This article has really annoyed me. Herpes is a common virus. Her ex- boyfriend denied passing it on, and lied so is a twunt, of course, but jailing him for 14 months?

With all the STDs tehre are now, some of which are really serious, is this not the thin end of the wedge? Herpes, for me, is a nuisance, but there is no way I would want the person who gave it me to go to jail. It's not AIDS FFS.

Suing someone over this is just opening the way for so many revenge cases. It's worrying that the judicial system is wasting time on this. Disclaimer: if he had knowingly infected her with AIDS it would be a different story.

"Maybe he knew he was a carrier, but didn't deliberately infect her. "

Do you really think that we are so overstaffed in the police service with so little to do that we take people to court for innocently passing on STDs ? Jeez, you can hardly get an offender charged for anything nowadays, I can assure you that to have been charged with an offence for which he could be sentenced to 14 months custday he full well knew what he was doing and infected her deliberately and the courts felt it sufficiently serious to impose a custodial sentence. Magistrates and judges are not morons, contrary to the belief of the press.

Cheria, it was dealt with as GBH because it satisfies all the legal definitions required of the offence of GBH. Just because you don't think it's GBH doesn't mean it isn't.

Ah I hadn't spotted that it was actually dealt with as GBH, before I posted my post about ABH and GBH. Duh.

I'm not a lawyer (had you noticed? :) ) I am not aware of the definiton for GBH.

I do however trust the British legal system, unlike a lot of people, and the police force.

BUT I do not like the idea of people complaining about exes as a revenge tactic. I would never have dreamed of suing the guy who passed it on to me, even though he also denied having it at first, and then admitted that he knew he was a carrier. Yeah he was a twat for not admitting it or warning me, but I was not angry enough to go to the police.

Maybe I just think it is an over-reaction because I suffer from herpes and think there are a lot worse things in life, and that men have hurt me far more with words or violence than ever this STI has done.

cheria Surely you wouldn't consider a woman who complained that her ex punched her in the face a "revenge tactic"

you are not BU Cheria but maybe us herpes sufferers are just a bit more tolerant that some of the ranters here !
I caught it from a guy who admitted afterwards he knew he had it. He just wanted sex but was too terrified to admit it. Nothing evil or malicious.. He was a twat, and I clearly was annoyed but would i want him jailed - never.
Would I drag his and my name through the press no . I know what I would class GBH and its nowhere near it ( yes the first attack was bad but ever since I have barely even noticed it ) In fact for me its been a damn good thing. It changed the way I view and make relationships.GBH should be reserved for something that scares and hurts you, not something that frankly with a bit of positive thinking and honesty really isnt a bother.
I get that he missed the honesty bit - but 14 months in jail is ridiculous.

No. But a lot depends on context. And that would be a massive debate that I wouldn't even dare start on here :)

This woman (today's case) has sold her story to Closer. It smacks of revenge and bitterness.

I'm going to get flamed for saying that aren't I.

Oh well.

Agree Ericnorthmans, 75% of the population have it, which means if you have slept with say 8 people, likely 6 of them had it in one form or another. Its a given that you will eventually come across it either sexually or another way. When that happens, you may get it, you may not.

whatgoesaround could that be that us sufferers don't see it as a stigma and something to be hysterical about?

This case ain't gonna help our cause...

Herpes can mean you have to have a c section if you flare up around the time of childbirth.

75% of the population have genital herpes? What a load of shit. As 19% are under 16yrs I find that extremely unlikely.

Queen- not that case for myself and the many other people ive met through support groups after suffering sever trauma through this experience. Most didnt get a custodial sentence at all.

severe

When i found out i had it i cried for 2 days. Then i calmed down, read up on it, hoped to god it was HSV1 which is kinder on the minge ( it was!) waited for it to go away and got on with my life. I know i am lucky to have it mildly, after the initial outbreak 4 years ago, only ever had one spot, which came up, went down with no fuss. I am certainly of the same thinking as you WHATGOESAROUND (sorry, dont know how to bold) its made me think about the kind of relationships i will enter into from now on and although i'm not going to shout it from the rooftops that i have it, it really doesn't bother me at all and I'm not ashamed.

THEPOSIE 74% of the population have the herpes virus, that could be anywhere on the body.

Posie I think she said 75% are herpes carriers, not just genital herpes. It includes coldsores on the mouth. Not sure 75% is right but the % is quite high.

No Posie only if you get your first ever outbreak during childbirth.

Eric that is how wthey see it now, but until recently docs would go the CS route if you had it at all during pregnancy, and were even more panicky about it further back than that...

HERPES IS HERPES and can be caught anywhere on the body! 75% of people have it, either as carriers or sufferers. And if you have never had an outbreak you wont know if you have it or not!

Posie 75% of the pop are carriers of herpes type one or type two. 50% of those have no symptoms. Most infections of herpes are type one (aka cold sores)

Come on, you're an intelligent woman, try reading properly.

Did anyone read the full article.

He has herpes.
He sleeps with her knowing that she could become infected.
She became infected.
She got tested and accused him of giving her herpes.
He denied it, and then eventually admitted it.
They carried on sleeping together for a bit longer.
They split up.
She pushes for prosecution.
He goes to jail and she earns a few grand selling her story.

I am a little leary about her staying with him after she found out all of this and then only pushing for prosecution once they had split up. It seems a little bit vindictive and OTT.

I had a boyfriend who got outbreaks on his neck. Just happens to be where you get infected in the first place. If you have it you can retransmit to other parts of your bodies. You can infect yourself genitally from a coldsore.

Intelligent I may be, but reading properly (have your read most of my posts) I assure you I cannot.

Two of my dcs have Herpes, one gets it on his fingers as well as his mouth (we think).

Herpes is usually caught on the face (where it resides in the neck somewhere) or in the genitals (it resides at the base of the spine)

It can break out anywhere but most usually mouth/genitals and most usually the site of infection.

therosieparker - so can having genital warts and chlamydia - so if thats the llitmus test ( the effect on birth ) can we expect any man infecting a women with either of these to be jailed too ?