HIV Positive Man Sentenced For 24 Years After Infecting 32 Sexual Partners

An Italian man was sentenced to 24 years in prison Friday for having unprotected sex with dozens of women despite knowing that he was HIV positive.

Valentino Talluto, 33, was diagnosed with HIV in 2006. But he still went on to use social media to have sexual intercourse with over 50 women and a minor. According to BBC, he used the username “Hearty Style” when he prowled for women online. Among them, 32 women were infected with the life-threatening virus, before Talluto was arrested in November 2015.

Talluto, who is an accountant by profession, admitted in front of the court that he did not realize the consequences of his actions at that time. As a result of what he did, not only has his sexual partners were infected with the virus, the future dates of three of the women and eight-month-old infant of a fourth woman subsequently contracted the fatal illness, the Telegraph reported.

His defense lawyers pleaded with the judge to give their client a reduced sentence on grounds that his actions were "imprudent, but not intentional." The prosecution, on the other hand, pushed for life imprisonment for Talluto, on the grounds that he tried to set off an HIV epidemic in the country. Prosecutor Elena Neri told the court last month: "His actions were intended to sow death."

However, Talluto claimed that most women he dated knew his family history and that his mother was an HIV-infected drug addict. "Many of the girls know my friends and family," he said. "They say that I wanted to infect as many people as possible. If that had been the case, I would have gone for casual sex in bars, I would not have brought them into my life."

Judges in Rome deliberated before coming to a final decision for 10 hours. In the end, the court found guilty of causing "grievous and incurable bodily harm" and sentenced him to 24 years in jail.

According to the reports, Talluto always found a way to not put on a condom when he was having sex with his partners. Sometimes he would tell them that he was allergic to the material that they were made of; other times he would convince them that he has gotten tested for HIV and STDs recently and he was cleared by the doctors.

Talluto also blatantly denied that he was the one who infected his ex-partners with the virus when some of those women, upon realizing they had become victims of the disease, came to confront him regarding it. There were also those who had no idea that they were infected by the virus until they heard of Talluto’s arrest on the news and got tested for HIV.