Nine Years’ Jail For ‘Callous’ Chef Who Infected His Lover With HIV

AIDS charities have criticised the sentence handed down to an Italian chef who recklessly infected his lover with HIV and hepatitis C. Giovanni Mola was yesterday jailed for nine years. He refused to wear condoms after beginning a sexual relationship with a woman in Edinburgh in 2003.

Mola, 38, who claimed to have had 200 lovers, had been diagnosed with the viruses three years earlier.

Sentencing Mola at the High Court in Glasgow, Judge Lord Hodge told him: “What you did to Miss X was chillingly callous and showed utter indifference to her welfare.”

But AIDS charities hit out at both the prosecution and the nine-year sentence handed down to Mola.

Deborah Jack, the chief executive of the National AIDS Trust, said: “The trust does not condone Giovanni Mola’s actions in recklessly transmitting HIV to Miss X and strongly advises all people living with HIV to protect sexual partners from infection.

“However, it is important to understand that prosecuting people for the reckless transmission of HIV is actually undermining efforts to stop the spread of HIV.

“Stigma and discrimination around HIV is increasing as people living with HIV are cast as criminals, making it even more difficult for them to tell other people.

“We are particularly concerned at the severity of the sentence. Sending Giovanni Mola to prison is not the way to deal with the HIV epidemic in Scotland and is likely to only make it worse.”

Lisa Power, head of policy at Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “It is vital that everyone realises the potential implications of unprotected sex for their health. Both parties to this case have suffered as a direct result of a culture that finds it easier to have sex than to discuss it and protect themselves.

“From evidence given in this trial, it is clear that both parties have been in want of good advice and support.”

Roy Kilpatrick, chief executive of the charity HIV Scotland, said: “The power to prosecute has to be sparingly executed in such cases in order to balance the interests of justice and public health. We are also quite surprised at the severity of this sentence.”

But a spokesman for Victim Support Scotland said: “The victim of any crime sees the prosecution of the perpetrator as a sensible outcome for them. It is difficult, too, for a victim to see any other outcome as satisfactory provided the procurator-fiscal is in agreement that charges should be brought.”

Lord Hodge recommended Mola should be deported at the end of his sentence to protect women in the UK, although the final decision is up to ministers.

The trial heard that Mola did not tell his new partner, who said she was a virgin, of his condition.

His victim, who cannot be identified, said she felt she had been handed a death sentence by Mola when she was diagnosed herself.

Lord Hodge said: “She will have to take drugs with serious and debilitating side-effects and may face hospitalisation.

“You abused her trust, and what you have done has devastated her and may have blighted the rest of her life and shortened that life.”

The relationship between Mola and the woman began after they met in a shop in the summer of 2003. They had sex nine or ten times between September that year and February 2004, but the chef used a condom only on the first and last occasions.
After she tested positive, Mola was later arrested, but then fled to Italy before being extradited last summer to face trial. He was convicted of culpably and recklessly failing to tell his partner he carried the infections and endangering her health and life by having unprotected sex with her.

Mola, who has previous convictions for dishonesty, including theft and extortion, has been recommended for deportation at the end of his nine-year sentence.

Lord Hodge said: “I have regard to the fact you told the court that you have had sexual relations with several women in the UK, and I consider it likely that you would continue to behave in an irresponsible way towards your partners if you were allowed to remain in the UK.

“I, therefore, am satisfied that there are strong grounds of public policy and public health which justify a recommendation for deportation.”