‘His actions were intended to sow death’: Italian sentenced to 24 years in jail for infecting 30 women with HIV
The women who had asked him to wear a condom said he told them he was allergic or had just been tested for HIV
An Italian court on Friday sentenced an HIV-positive man to 24 years in jail for intentionally infecting 30 women he had unprotected sex with over nearly 10 years.
Under the pseudonym “Hearty Style”, 33-year-old accountant Valentino Talluto seduced dozens of young women on social networks and internet dating sites, often dating several at a time.
Rome prosecutors had requested a life sentence for Talluto but after some 12 hours of deliberation the court decided he should receive a 24-year sentence after finding he did not cause an epidemic by spreading a pathogen, which under Italian law would have brought a life term.
Some of his victims embraced and burst into tears when the verdict was announced, reporters who were present said.
Out of 53 sexual conquests known to have taken place between 2006 – when he discovered he was HIV positive – and his arrest in 2015, 30 women were allegedly infected by him with the virus which damages the immune system and causes Aids.
Talluto has never cooperated, he has made false statements, he has always denied any responsibility
The male companions of three of the women were also infected, as was the baby of a fourth, investigators say.