James Turner |
James Turner, the 67-year-old Irish
national based in Nigeria, has said he slept with no fewer than six other
ladies. Turner is the man accused by his 31-year-old Nigerian girlfriend of
deliberately infecting her with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, HIV.
Turner also confessed to have sent
his wife back to the Republic of Ireland, when his status was confirmed, in
order not to infect her with the virus. It was gathered, during interrogation
that among the girls the suspect had slept with was his girlfriend’s friend.
The concerned ladies, it was
gathered, were all commercial sex workers. However, unconfirmed reports said he
had slept with more than six ladies. His girlfriend, identified simply as
Helen, reported Turner to the police last Friday, after the latter reneged on
his promise to settle the former with N2.5 million.
Helen said that she stumbled on the
anti-retroviral drugs her lover of eight years had been secretly taking, four
months after his status was confirmed. james-turner Mr. James Turner Three
years ago The Benue State-born lady disclosed that Turner’s status was revealed
three years ago, when she went with him to the hospital for the treatment of an
unknown ailment.
She said: “When we got to Liester
Hospital, Ikeja, they ran some tests on him because he was sweating and also
running temperature. The doctor gave him drugs for malaria. “At that hospital,
if one is sick and has such high temperature, they will run a HIV test on the
person without his knowledge.
After running the test on him, the
doctor invited us to his office and asked if he could talk to him in my
presence, he said no, that I should wait outside. The doctor thereafter, broke
the news to him. “When we got home, he was quiet. He did not tell me anything.
I realised that he was taking a particular medication, which he hid from me.
“There was a time I even drove to
the hospital to pick a brown envelop, which was sealed, for him. It was his
medication, but I did not open it. “When I discovered that he kept hiding his
medication from me, I asked him what kind of medicine he was taking and he told
me that it was for malaria and typhoid. I did not say anything because I
thought that the prescription was for a long period of time.
“He continued taking it for about
three to four months. So, one day I opened the medication and wrote out the
name of the drug. Thereafter, I googled the name on my phone to know what type
of medication it was.
To my shock I discovered it was an
anti-retroviral for HIV. “I went to meet Jim in the living room and asked why
he was taking medication meant for people living with HIV and also asked if he
was HIV positive, but he said no.
“He told me that the doctor gave him
the medication for his legs, which has caused him sleepless nights.” Helen’s
worst fear was confirmed during a visit to the doctor, who disclosed that her
lover was HIV positive. To ascertain her status, the doctor also ran a test on
her, where she was discovered to have been infected with HIV.
According to her, “since the visit
to the doctor with Jim (her pet name for Turner) his love-making with me
increased as if he was madly in love with me.” Decision to send wife back
Turner, who refused to speak with journalists, however, insisted that Helen
infected him with the virus.
But during interrogation by
policemen at the Ikeja Division, he stated that he had to send his wife back to
Ireland on discovering that he was HIV positive, in order not to infect her
with the virus.
He also said that he slept with
other ladies after his status was confirmed, right in his apartment. He also
insisted that Helen infected her with the virus, pointing out that she might
have contacted the virus from Kaduna State, where she spent some months to sell
a property in 2013, same year he was confirmed to be HIV positive.
But asked why he hid the
anti-retroviral drugs from Helen, he kept mum. He was released on bail,
weekend, to treat himself of an injury he sustained on one of his elbows, from
which he was bleeding.
Police, however, assured that
measures had been put in place to prevent further infection of other ladies by
the suspect. Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmus, who
confirmed the arrest, said: “We are waiting for expert’s opinion to conclude
the charge against the suspect.”
Source:Vanguard Newspaper
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