HIV-positive man convinced infected wife to work as sex worker

A man who has the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) convinced his wife to continue working as a sex worker, even after she was found with the same incurable infection.

The woman, 44, complied as the family was facing financial woes following their child’s birth, and did not tell her clients about her condition.

On July 22, the 37-year-old man was sentenced to a year and eight months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to four charges, including two for getting a woman to work as a prostitute.

Fourteen other charges, including instigating his wife to not tell her sexual partners about her condition, were considered during sentencing.

Court documents did not disclose the outcome of the case involving the 44-year-old woman, whom the prosecution referred to as the victim.

The couple, who cannot be identified due to a gag order, had met online and began dating in 2014. The man then told the woman that he is HIV-positive.

The pair were living together in a rented home when he suggested the woman become a sex worker to earn “fast cash”.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tin Shu Min told the court: “The victim initially disagreed to the accused’s suggestion. However, the accused eventually persuaded her to agree by alluding to their financial difficulty.”

The couple would go to Geylang, where the victim would wait by the road as the man solicited customers for her. After that, the man would escort her to a hotel by trailing her and her client.

He would then wait for the victim outside the hotel, and instructed her to call him for help if there was any trouble.

They charged between $70 and $90 for her services, depending on whether a condom was used.

In September 2017, the victim was admitted to Tan Tock Seng Hospital for reasons not stated in court documents, and was diagnosed with HIV.

The DPP said: “To the knowledge of both parties, the victim had contracted HIV from the accused.”

Despite this, she continued to provide sexual services.

“The accused told the victim not to tell her customers that she is HIV-positive, knowing that customers would not engage her services if they knew,” the DPP added.

The victim went along, but at a certain point, she told the man that she wanted to inform her clients that she was HIV-positive. However, he told her not to do so as she would lose customers.

From 2014 to 2018, the victim earned at least $500 from prostitution.

The couple got married in July 2018, and she stopped her sex work when she discovered that she was pregnant with the man’s child.

But in 2019, her husband asked her to continue providing such services as their family expenses were mounting following the birth of their baby.

The DPP said: “The victim again disagreed initially, but the accused was persistent in asking her to do so... She was persuaded to agree with the accused, as she understood that their family was in financial difficulty.”

This time round, the man solicited customers for his wife by advertising her services on messaging platform Telegram.

He would then pose as his wife in replying the customers, telling them her rates and services and arranging for appointments.

After that, he would inform the victim over WhatsApp about her upcoming customers and the services they wanted.

She provided these sexual services in hotels, or in the living room of their home – with her child sometimes asleep in the unit or taken to the void deck by her husband.

Investigations revealed that the man communicated with at least 12 prospective customers on Telegram between Dec 20, 2021, and March 15, 2022.

Among them were two men who had protected sexual intercourse with his wife and were unaware that she is HIV-positive. Both customers have since tested negative for HIV.

On March 15, 2022, the man texted the woman on WhatsApp to inform her that a customer was coming at 4pm.

She refused to serve the customer and told her husband that she no longer wanted to be a sex worker, and said she had informed her father about their arrangement. She lodged a police report the next day.

The court heard that her viral load was undetectable on multiple occasions between April 2019 and March 2022

However, at the time of the offences, HIV-positive people had to inform their partners about their condition before engaging in sexual activities with them.

However, an amendment to the Infectious Diseases Act that came into force in 2024 removes the requirement for those who have medical proof that they have maintained an undetectable viral load for a prescribed period through treatment to suppress the virus.

The Ministry of Health had said: “(HIV patients who) have an undetectable viral load have practically no risk of transmitting the virus to their sexual partners.”

HIV non-disclosure is still a crime for people living with HIV who have not suppressed their viral load.