Australia: Sexual crimes ignored for 5 years

Must not be nasty to criminals if they are homosexual!

A PSYCHIATRIST who examined a man accused of deliberately spreading HIV told Victoria's Department of Human Services the father of three was the "most evil man I have seen in 20 years". Melbourne Magistrates Court heard yesterday that the department was contacted nine times in four years by doctors and concerned gay men who alleged the 48-year-old was intent on "breeding" the deadly disease.

Despite the fact that Michael John Neal, 48, admitted during his first contact with the DHS that he was having unprotected sex with many men and only sometimes disclosed his HIV status, police were not notified of the case until February last year - five years after the alarm was first raised by a doctor. Mr Neal is facing 122 charges including deliberately spreading HIV, rape, reckless conduct endangering serious injury and possession of child pornography.

During the fourth day of his committal hearing yesterday, a witness told the court Mr Neal hosted a "conversion party" at which a 15-year-old boy was injected with crystal methamphetamine and then "bred" (infected with HIV) by about 15 HIV-positive men who had sex with him. "Mick tried to justify this to me by saying that the kid was asking for more, more, more," the witness said in a statement.

The court heard the DHS went through four "stages" in its dealings with Mr Neal - offering him counselling, education and support, referring the allegations against him to an internal HIV Advisory Panel, issuing a letter of warning and issuing orders that restricted Mr Neal's sexual behaviour and required him to make contact with a department officer each day. When told he must either disclose his HIV status or wear a condom, Mr Neal demanded the department pay for Viagra "due to his erectile dysfunction when using condoms", the court heard.

According to a witness statement of DHS public servant Elizabeth Hatch, tendered to the court yesterday, the department was contacted in November 2001 by the doctor who first raised the alarm, Nicholas Medland. Dr Medland made further contact with the department in March 2003 and "stated that four of his recent HIV diagnoses were linked to Michael Neal", the court heard. Ms Hatch said that in a July 2004 meeting with psychiatrist Finton Harte - who believed Mr Neal was "the most evil man Ihave seen in 20 years" - the psychiatrist also said Mr Neal "enjoys infecting people with HIV".

Dr Harte told the department he believed Mr Neal was incapable of practicing safe sex and "the only way to guarantee the public's safety would be to lock this man up for life". The court heard that as allegations against Mr Neal continued to be received by the DHS, the accused man blatantly flouted orders issued under state health legislation on July 26, 2004, and December 21, 2004. It was only after a year of constant breaches that the matter was referred to Melbourne's sexual crimes squad, in February last year.

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