A former South African National Defence Force (SANDF) member Leon Santos Conga has been sentenced to life after being found guilty of rape and attempted murder by the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court.
This for knowingly exposing and factually infecting his then girlfriend with HIV in 2016, for which he was given an additional 10-year direct imprisonment.
Magistrate Fikiswa Ntlathi ordered the sentence should run concurrently.
According to the state, Conga and the victim, Antoinette Ndishishi, were in a love relationship for four months, from 16 December 2016 until April 2017.
Before the two began their relationship, the victim had done an HIV test on 01 December 2016 which came back negative.
When the two started their relationship, the victim raised the HIV conversation and insisted on knowing Conga’s status.
‘Conga then lied and misled the victim and told her that he was HIV negative hence his employer was able to deploy him outside the country.
However, the victim came with the condition in their relationship that “no condom no sex”.
One time when the two were intimate, Conga removed the condom.
This apparently happened twice until the victim felt unwell and went to do an HIV test.
When the results came back positive, she confronted Conga who denied infecting her,” said National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana.
Ndishishi then reported the matter to the police in May 2017, but it was later withdrawn due to lack of evidence and refusal by the SANDF to provide the court with Conga’s medical record.
With the help of private prosecution, the matter was re-enrolled in 2021, and it emerged in court that Conga had known about his status since 2007.
“During the trial, Conga stated that the condom was removed by the complainant and denied infecting the victim with HIV.
However, the state prosecutor, Advocate Emile Van der Merwe called a witness, Professor Terresa Russouw, an HIV expert who testified about the effects of HIV and assisted the state in proving the attempted murder charge,” explained Mahanjana.
During the aggravation of sentence, Advocate Van der Merwe argued that Conga was known to the victim as he served in the military with her brother, but he betrayed that trust.
In addition, Ndishishi told the court that the man left her with an emotional scar and a permanent trademark which is HIV.
“Magistrate Ntlati agreed with the state that Conga showed no remorse and that he committed a very serious offence that had devastating effects on the victim and her family.
Though the government continues to conduct campaigns around the country there are still provinces where HIV infections are increasing because of such conduct, she said and found no compelling and substantial circumstances to deviate from the prescribed minimum sentence,” added Mahanjana.
