Australian schoolteacher sentenced to forced labor for infecting partner with herpes
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- An Australian court sentenced 21-year-old schoolteacher Daniel Marriott to 13 months' hard labor for deliberately infecting his partner with genital herpes.
- The man knew about his diagnosis, but lied about it before having sex.
AI-generated summary
In Australia, a court sentenced a schoolteacher to 13 months of hard labor for knowingly infecting his partner with genital herpes. The Canberra Times reports.
According to the case file, 21-year-old Daniel Marriott was diagnosed with the herpes virus, HSV-2, in 2020. In February 2023, he arranged a meeting with the victim. Before the first sexual intercourse, the woman asked when he was last tested for sexually transmitted infections. Marriott responded that he was "clean" even though he knew he had the disease.
The couple had unprotected sex several times, and by March the woman began to experience symptoms. After undergoing tests, she was confirmed to have genital herpes. When she asked the man via messenger if he could have infected her with a sexually transmitted disease, he replied: “Yes, but I didn’t think you would get infected.” The woman sued him.
Judge Paul Slattery said it was the first time in Australia that such an offense had been tried by a court. The judge noted that the defendant "put his sexual desires above the safety and well-being of the victim" and his apology said he regretted the consequences for himself, not the harm caused. The victim wrote to Marriott: “I feel disgusting, I feel betrayed. Now I have to tell everyone I want to be with about it.”
An Australian man who worked at a school and was placed on unpaid leave amid a legal battle has pleaded guilty to transmitting an STD and causing grievous bodily harm. Prosecutors also said that the man had previously infected another partner with chlamydia, but he has not been charged in connection with this fact. The court sentenced Marriott to 13 months of correctional labor.
