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A judge sentenced a transgendered aboriginal man to 30 months in the penitentiary Tuesday for failing to tell a female sex partner that he was HIV positive.
Ontario Court Justice Hugh Fraser noted that Justin Travis Bruneau, 33, exposed the woman to the virus in more than 80 acts of unprotected vaginal and anal sex and “can consider himself most fortunate” the young mother-of-two wasn’t infected.
“Exposure to this virus on just one occasion can have life-threatening consequences,” Fraser said.
Bruneau had pleaded guilty to aggravated assault, assault and uttering threats.
Fraser recounted Bruneau’s sad history – born to alcoholic parents, he was shuttled between foster homes and struggled with his own addictions and racism on top of feeling “different” from other males.
“Mr. Bruneau’s background is unfortunately all too common for aboriginal offenders,” Fraser said.
But Fraser rejected defence arguments based on a Supreme Court decision that judges should consider shorter sentences for aboriginal offenders. Bruneau is an Ojibway.
Bruneau’s past struggles and alcoholism had little to do with him failing to disclose his HIV status to the woman, Fraser found. Bruneau had “every opportunity” to tell her during a four-month relationship that ended last summer but “deliberately misled” her, saying he had no sexually-transmitted infections when she asked.
He’d informed a previous partner and gave no reason for not telling the victim, other than saying he’d been intoxicated, “stupid” and “felt overpowered” by the woman’s “sexual expectations.”
Instead, the woman had to learn of Bruneau’s HIV status from his ex-girlfriend, after they broke up following an incident in which he beat her in front of her children and threatened to kill her son.
Fraser praised the victim’s “articulate, compassionate and fair-minded” victim impact statement in which she recounted her terror that she’d contracted HIV and feeling that she’ll never be able trust an intimate partner again.
megan.gillis@sunmedia.ca