/ 5 October 2006

Nurse guilty of infecting stepson with HIV

A nurse from Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga has been found guilty of infecting her stepson with HIV after giving him an injection with contaminated blood, South African Broadcasting Corporation news reported on Thursday.

Pinky Mabuza (33) stood trial in the magistrate’s court at Mkuhlu near Hazyview. Victor Mathebula, the magistrate presiding over the trial, found Mabuza guilty of attempted murder, and said he based his verdict on circumstantial evidence.

He said Mabuza had both the motive and the means to commit the crime. Sentencing was postponed to November 9.

The incident took place in August 2003 when the boy, who stays with his mother at Songeni village, visited his father at Mkhuhlu about 50km away.

The boy has testified via closed circuit camera that his stepmother injected him with a so-called ”red liquid”.

The boy’s own mother has testified that initial tests found he was HIV negative, but three months later, the tests were positive. — Sapa