<!–
<!–
<!– <!–
<!–
<!–
<!–
An HIV positive man has been jailed for five years for having unprotected sex with a 15-year-old boy he met online.
Brendan Andrew Taggart’s behavior was branded “reckless and selfish” by District Court Judge Kris Handshin during a sentencing hearing in Adelaide.
Taggart, 60, pleaded guilty to communicating with the intent to cause a child to engage in or submit to sexual activity and unlawful sexual intercourse.
The court heard Taggart met his 15-year-old victim through the social media app Scruff in April 2023 and arranged an Uber to take the boy to his home in the eastern Adelaide suburb of Lynton.
An HIV-positive man who had unprotected sex with a 15-year-old boy has been sentenced to five years in prison (file image)
Taggart did not use a condom while abusing the teenager, claiming the antiretroviral drugs he was taking meant he could not transmit HIV.
“Despite his confidence that he could not transmit the virus… his decision to have unprotected sex with a teenager was, however, very reckless and selfish and deserves a strong sentence,” Judge Handshin was reported as saying. by The advertiser.
“Although (the victim) did not contract the virus, he had to take precautionary medications for several months, which must have been a distressing time for a person of his young age.”
Taggart was arrested after the victim’s parents discovered communications between him and the boy.
Taggaer contacted his victim via messaging app Scruff and sent an Uber to take the boy to his home in Adelaide’s east (file image)
The court heard Taggart was deeply remorseful for his offending and did not meet the diagnostic criteria for a pedophilic disorder.
Before the crime, Taggart had lost his job in hospital administration and was experiencing alcohol abuse problems.
In sentencing Taggart to five years, backdated to April 29 of this year and with a three-year non-parole period, Judge Handshin’s children needed to be protected.
The judge said children, because of their naivety or sexual curiosity, could be exploited for the gratification of opportunistic adults.