A 37-year-old man who consumes heroin and described "as lacking in empathy" was sentenced to six years in prison by the Dieppe Criminal Court for having transmitted the AIDS virus to his former companion
A 37-year-old man was sentenced to six years in prison by the Dieppe Criminal Court for having transmitted the AIDS virus to his former companion, the prosecution told AFP on Friday.
The man, who was not present at the hearing, was convicted of "administering a harmful substance".
The court issued an arrest warrant for him.
The prosecution had requested a seven-year prison sentence.
The accused "already had 22 convictions in his criminal record," said Étienne Thieffry, prosecutor for the Republic of Dieppe.
According to the regional daily Paris-Normandy, the defendant confessed to his former partner that she was the third person he contaminated.
A heroin user, he was described at Tuesday's hearing "as a man without empathy, endowed with a feeling of omnipotence", according to the regional daily.