Abstract:
Most legal practitioners and laypersons agree, if someone deliberately or
intentionally transmits the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) to a sexual
partner, that person deserves legal sanction. South Africa has opted not to
establish a separate set of criminal offences to criminalise HIV transmission in
this context, unlike several other African countries that have established separate
crimes for the intentional or negligent transmission of HIV. In South Africa, policy
considerations have prompted the application of existing criminal law principles
in court cases dealing with the intentional or negligent transmission of HIV to
sexual partners.
