A German pop singer who admitted failing to tell her lovers she had HIV was on Thursday handed a two-year suspended prison sentence after a court found her guilty of grievous bodily harm and attempted bodily harm.
Nadja Benaissa, 28, of the girl band No Angels, Germany’s most successful all-female line-up, looked relieved and tearful as the verdict was passed.
She could have faced up to 10 years in prison, but prosecutors called for a lenient sentence after the singer confessed to the court that she had been “careless” and was “sorry from the bottom of my heart” for the pain she had caused.
PHOTO: REUTERS
The court ruled that she had “in all probability” infected one of her lovers, who contracted HIV at the time of their relationship and that she had endangered the life of another, who remains virus-free.
Similar accusations toward the singer made by a third former lover, which were originally included in evidence, were not heard in order to speed up the trial.
Benaissa has been ordered to undergo 300 hours of community service, if possible working with an organization that helps people with HIV.
In an emotional appeal to the court in which she said she had “not intended” to harm her former sexual partners, Benaissa, who was born in Germany to Moroccan parents, said: “I made a huge mistake and for that I’m sorry.”
She said she wanted to meet the former boyfriend, a 34-year-old art dealer, who became infected after they had an affair in 2004.
“I wish I could meet him sometime in a neutral place, and talk to him,” she said.
During the trial, which was followed closely by Benaissa’s fans, the man had vented his anger towards the singer, shaking his fist at her and telling her she had “unleashed a lot of misery into the world.”
A virologist giving evidence said there was little doubt that Benaissa had infected the man, because they both had a very similar strain of the virus, a rare form which was first discovered in West Africa.
The five-day trial, which took place in a youth court in Darmstadt since Benaissa was just 16 when the first offenses took place, heard detailed evidence of the pop star’s troubled youth. Benaissa spent time living on the street, where she developed a drug addiction. She had a child when she was 16.
Shortly afterward, along with four other women, she won the top prize in a TV talent contest and formed the band No Angels, which went on to become a huge commercial success.
The discovery that she was HIV positive coincided with her sudden launch into the world of stardom and celebrity.
“Within a week my whole life was turned on its head,” she told the court.
Even though fellow band members knew of her HIV status, one of her top priorities had been to keep the fact secret from the wider public, particularly to protect her child, she said.
Benaissa told the court how the pressure on her to go public with the news increased. It was spread across Facebook and she received blackmail threats.
“I was being terrorized from all sides,” she said. “It was simply too much for me.”
After learning she was HIV positive, doctors advised her it was “highly unlikely” she would spread the virus if she remained healthy.
“I trusted those doctors,” she said.
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