Charge withdrawn in St. John's HIV case

The Crown on Monday withdrew a charge of aggravated assault against a St. John's woman who had been accused of not informing a partner of her HIV-positive status.

Jennifer Murphy, 33, was charged in February, weeks after she had completed a one-year house arrest imposed after she pleaded guilty to the same charge, arising from an incident at an Ontario military base.

The Crown told the provincial court in St. John's that the facts of the case did not support the charge.
"I think it's a move forward - not only for me, but for the whole AIDS community in general," said Murphy, who said she used a condom during the incident that led to the charge in February.

"I've been publicly humiliated," said Murphy, who said she was shocked when the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary charged her this winter.

She described herself as an activist within the HIV-AIDS community and a campaigner for safe-sex education.

"I thought, 'You're charging me for protecting somebody?' This puts everything backwards," she said, adding that she feared the case would bring more stigma to people with HIV. "People are going to be afraid to get tested."

Murphy attracted national headlines - and what she called scandalized coverage in the Toronto area - when she was arrested in 2005 after she had sex with a soldier at Canadian Forces Base Borden.