Australian court sentences man infected two women with HIV

An Australian court on Thursday sentenced a man who knowingly infected two European tourists with HIV to 12 years in prison. Stanislas Kanengele-Yondjo, 42, had earlier pleaded guilty to two counts of causing grievous bodily harm by knowingly infecting two women with the HIV virus in Sydney between January and March 2003. Kanengele-Yondjo, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, was diagnosed with the virus in February 1999, but told the two women, one from Ireland, the other from Germany, that he was disease free. Judge Warwick Andrews of the New South Wales state District Court called Kanengele-Yondjo's acts heinous and callous.

"To have subjected innocent persons to your own horror shows a poverty of spirit and moral bankruptcy which beggars belief," Andrews said.

He sentenced the married father of five to 12 years in prison, or six years for each count. Kanengele-Yondjo will be eligible for parole in April 2013. A spokeswoman for the victims, Bernadette Ingrim, said they were relieved the matter was over.

"They appreciate that at least for the next nine or 12 years he won't have the opportunity to hurt anyone else like this again," Ingrim told reporters, adding that the sentence was "a genuine reflection of the offense,” reports the AP. I.L.