IN THE first case of its kind, a chef infected with HIV was charged in court yesterday with engaging in oral sex with a 16-year-old without first informing him of the risks of contracting the virus that causes Aids.
Chan Mun Chiong, 43, pleaded guilty to that charge as well as to another of committing an act of gross indecency with the teen.
The Ministry of Health summons charge said he had oral sex without first telling the teenager about the HIV risk. He also failed to get him to voluntarily agree to accept that risk. The offence carries a fine of up to $10,000 or up to two years in jail, or both.
The sex charge said that the bespectacled, spiky-haired man and the boy performed the sex acts in a cubicle of a men's toilet at the Northpoint Shopping Centre in Yishun on Sept 15 last year. For the gross indecency charge, he faces a jail term of up to two years.
Chan, who did not have a lawyer, was released on $10,000 bail. He is expected back in court today for his case to be dealt with.
He does not face stiffer penalties that were passed by Parliament last month as they had yet to go into effect.
Under amendments to the Infectious Diseases Act, those found guilty of having unprotected sex even if they do not know but have 'reason to believe' that they have or have been exposed to HIV can be jailed for up to 10 years and/or fined up to $50,000.
The Health Ministry has in the past investigated some cases, but no one has been prosecuted until yesterday.
One case was compounded last year. In another case, a foreigner being investigated left the country in 2005 before he could be charged.
