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HIV Brit gets 14 years

A British citizen with HIV has been sentenced to 14 years in jail by a Swedish court after having unprotected sex with 16 young girls, two of whom contracted the virus.

HIV Brit gets 14 years

Merrill Christer Aggett, 32, was found guilty by Solna District Court in November of two charges of serious assault, 13 charges of attempted assault, six charges of sexual exploitation of a minor, one minor narcotics offence and two charges of driving without a licence.

“He purposely chose girls who were underage,” the court said. The victims were aged between 12 and 14.

Aggett was ordered to pay damages of 2.7 million kronor (€287,000, $425,000) to the 16 victims, including 850,000 kronor (€90,000, $133,000) to each of the two girls infected with HIV.

Sentencing was delayed after the initial verdict as the court ruled that Aggett should undergo a psychiatric analysis.

If found to suffer from a psychiatric disorder, he would have been sentenced to secure psychiatric care rather than prison.

Aggett is believed to have contacted 130 girls between 2002 and 2006 via internet chat sites.

Two young girls were diagnosed as HIV positive after sleeping with Aggett. Prosecutors successfully argued that he should be convicted of serious assault for infecting the girls.

Aggett also faced charges of attempted assault for having unprotected sex with other young girls, none of whom were infected. Many of them were under 15 when they slept with him.

The British citizen, who has lived in Sweden since he was a child, was arrested early last summer. Aggett himself was diagnosed as HIV positive in 1992.