Ex-SANDF employee who knowingly infected girlfriend with HIV gets life sentence

The Pretoria magistrate’s court on Wednesday sentenced a former SANDF employee Leon Santos Conga to life imprisonment for the rape of his girlfriend and an additional 10 years for attempted murder for knowingly exposing and factually infecting her with HIV.   

Conga and the woman were in a relationship from December 16 2016 to April 2017. “Before the two began their relationship, the victim had done an HIV test on December 1 2016, which came back HIV negative,” National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana said. 

She said when the two started their relationship, the victim raised the HIV conversation and insisted on knowing Conga’s HIV status. Conga lied and misled the victim and told her he was HIV negative, hence his employer was able to deploy him outside the country.

“However, the victim came with the condition in their relationship that ‘no condom no sex’. One time when the two were intimate, Conga removed the condom. This apparently happened twice until the victim felt unwell and went to do an HIV test. When the results came back positive, she confronted Conga, who denied infecting her.” 

The woman reported the matter to the police in May 2017. However, the case was withdrawn in 2018 due to insufficient evidence, but it was re-enrolled in August 2021. “During the trial, Conga claimed the condom was removed by the complainant and denied infecting her with HIV,” Mahanjana said.   

“However, the state prosecutor, Adv Emile Van der Merwe, called a witness, Prof Terresa Russouw, an HIV expert who testified about the effects of HIV, and helped the state to prove the attempted murder charge.” 

Mahanjana said the state also provided evidence that revealed that Conga first tested HIV positive on October 8 2007, therefore he was aware of his HIV status when he removed the condom and had intercourse with the victim.

In June, the court convicted Conga of rape because the woman only consented to having sex with him on the understanding that he was HIV negative. The court, when handing down sentence on Wednesday, said Conga showed no remorse and had committed a very serious offence with devastating effects on the victim and her family. “The NPA welcomes the sentence and appreciates the contribution that AfriForum made towards the successful prosecution of this case,” Mahanjana said. 

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