A 37-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced to imprisonment for 20 months after forcing his wife to do sex work. What makes this worse is that the man had contracted the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and passed it on to his wife.
According to a report by CNA, after knowing that he had given her the virus and that she had given birth to their child, he still insisted she provide sexual services for fast cash.
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This all started in 2014, after the man had met his wife online and began dating in 2014. He did not withhold the fact that he had HIV and they eventually started living together.
Despite both of them having jobs, they found that they did not have enough money for rent, to which the man then suggested that she become a sex worker to earn some fast cash. She had initially disagreed but eventually caved into his requests.
She started conducting sex work through the management of her husband (then boyfriend), with rates of S$70 (RM243) to S$90 (RM313) depending on what she had to do.
They would then share the earnings by using it for their daily expenses and rent.
In September 2017, the woman was diagnosed to have contracted HIV from the man.Ā
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After the diagnosis, they still continued with their “business” with the man telling her not to inform customers of her HIV-positive status. Despite knowing the risk of transmitting HIV to her customers and arguing that they should disclose it, the woman eventually agreed to keep it a secret.
It is important to note that it is required by law to inform sexual partners if you are HIV-positive before engaging in sexual acts.Ā
The woman also skipped her antiretroviral treatment (ART), a treatment consisting of a combination of drugs that suppress HIV replication, from February to May of 2018.
Only when she found out that she was pregnant with the man’s child did she stop conducting sex work. They had then married in July 2018.
Following the birth of their child, the man once again insisted that his wife continue doing sex work due to them having additional expenses because of their baby.
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She, again, disagreed but ended up giving in to her husband’s demands. While she was unhappy with having to do sex work, she understood that they needed money.
The husband would advertise his wife on Telegram and arrange for customers to either meet at a hotel or their home.
While the sex work was being conducted, their baby would either be sleeping in the next room or the husband would take their child out for a walk.
They would also insist that the customer use condoms and continued to conceal the fact that she had HIV.
She finally put her foot down in 2022.
In December 2020, the woman decided to leave their home but still went on with their sex work arrangement up until March 2022. It was then that she ultimately decided that she didn’t want to be a sex worker anymore and told her father everything.Ā She also lodged a police report.
Despite the husband deleting messages that linked him to their sex work arrangement, investigations managed to link him to 12 customers which has led to jail time.
It is still unknown as to whether the woman will be prosecuted along with her husband, or whether or not she had transmitted HIV to any of the customers.
Stay tuned for more updates!
