Court demotes Hamilton man’s HIV murder convictions to manslaughter

Ontario’s top court has overturned two first-degree murder convictions in the case of a man who did not make known his HIV-positive status to sexual partners, though he remains a dangerous offender.

Johnson Aziga of Hamilton was convicted in 2009 of the two counts of murder, which were believed to be the first convictions of their kind in Canada at the time. He was also convicted of 10 counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of attempted aggravated sexual assault.

The court later declared Aziga a dangerous offender, which accompanies an indefinite sentence.

Aziga appealed his convictions and sentence. In a decision shared Tuesday, the Court of Appeal for Ontario overturned the murder convictions and substituted them with two manslaughter verdicts, and set aside two aggravated assault convictions.

The Crown had acknowledged that the murder convictions should be overturned because of incorrect jury instructions by the trial judge.

The three-judge Appeal Court panel wrote in its decision that the dangerous offender designation should stand. They also said Aziga’s sentences for manslaughter should still be life because of the gravity of his offences.