Man with HIV given 71/2-year prison sentence
Remorseless, HIV-positive sex offender John Joseph McNamara is a “black hole of human emotion,” a prosecutor said Thursday.
Crown lawyer Janice Walsh said not only does McNamara not feel badly for what he did to his victims, but he has no empathy for them.
Justice Robert Hall accepted a joint submission from Walsh and defence lawyer Shamsher Kothari to sentence McNamara to the equivalent of 7½ years in a federal penitentiary.
But because McNamara has spent more than three years in remand custody, he has already served the equivalent of almost five years behind bars.
As a result, Hall agreed with the lawyers that McNamara must serve an additional 30 months.
The Court of Queen’s Bench judge also agreed to make a nonbinding recommendation McNamara serve his sentence at the Williams Head penitentiary in B.C.
Kothari asked for the recommendation because McNamara “has a number of incompatibles at the Bowden Institution.”
McNamara pleaded guilty in February to six counts of aggravated sexual assault for having unprotected sexual intercourse with women without telling them about his HIV status.
Walsh noted a psychiatric report prepared by Dr. George Duska found the offender had traits of anti-social personality disorder and narcissistic disorder.
Duska also found McNamara to be a high risk to reoffend.
But Kothari argued the law involving the need to disclose HIV-positive status is changing, as medical advances have determined individuals with low viral levels don’t pose a risk during unprotected sex.
He said taking prescribed medications and having low levels means infected individuals aren’t required to use condoms, even without disclosing their conditions.
“Parliament is in the process of reviewing this particular offence,” Kothari said.
Before sentencing, Hall heard victim-impact statements from three of McNamara’s victims.
“The last five years have been hell for me in ways I know you don’t care,” one wrote to the offender.
Another said her grandmother disowned her, calling her disgusting.
Hall noted each described the fear they’d experienced, worried they’d been infected.
“He callously, in his own interest, had sex with multiple partners in multiple ways … without any regard for their safety,” Hall said.
But he said McNamara deserved credit for his guilty pleas sparing the six victims the “excruciating ” pain of having to testify.