Former South African soldier sentenced to life imprisonment for assault and deliberately infecting his girlfriend with HIV

Thursday, September 26, 2024 - The Pretoria Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday sentenced a former South African National Defence Force (SANDF) employee, Leon Santos Conga (48) to life imprisonment for r@pe of his girlfriend.

He was given an additional 10-year direct imprisonment for attempted m8rder for knowingly exposing and factually infecting his girlfriend with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

Conga was found guilty on Tuesday, June 11, 2024.

The Regional Spokesperson of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Gauteng Division: Pretoria, Lumka Mahanjana in a statement said the court ordered that the sentence should run concurrently.

Conga and the victim were in a love relationship for four months, from 16 December 2016 until April 2017.

Before the two began their relationship, the victim had done an HIV test on 01 December 2016 which came back HIV negative. When the two started their relationship, the victim raised the HIV conversation and insisted on knowing Conga’s HIV status.

Conga then lied and misled the victim and told her that he was HIV negative hence his employer was able to deploy him outside the country. However, the victim came with the condition in their relationship that “no condom no sex”.

One time when the two were intimate, Conga removed the condom. This apparently happened twice until the victim felt unwell and went to do an HIV test.

When the results came back positive, she confronted Conga who denied infecting her.She then reported the matter to the police in May 2017, however the docket was only opened on 09 July 2017.

In 2018 after several postponements in court, the matter was withdrawn due to insufficient evidence. However, after investigations and the required evidence was obtained from the SANDF the matter was re-enrolled on 21 August 2021 and Conga appeared in court.

During the trial, Conga stated that the condom was removed by the complainant and denied infecting the victim with HIV.

However, the state prosecutor, Advocate Emile Van der Merwe called a witness, Professor Terresa Russouw, an HIV expert who testified about the effects of HIV and assisted the state in proving the attempted murder charge.

The state also provided evidence which revealed that Conga first tested HIV positive on 08 October 2007, therefore he was aware of his HIV status when he removed the condom and had intercourse with the victim.

During the sentencing proceedings, in aggravation of sentence, Advocate Van der Merwe argued that Conga was known to the victim as he served in the military with her brother.

She trusted him but he betrayed that trust. Furthermore, Van der Merwe said r@pe is not only a serious violent crime, but it is extremely prevalent therefore, the courts and prosecutions owe it to the community to deal with such matters with the seriousness and devotion it requires.

He asked the court to impose a sentence of life imprisonment.

Advocate Van der Merwe also handed in a Victim Impact Statement (VIS) and called the victim to testify in aggravation, where the victim told the court that the man left her with an emotional scar and a permanent trademark which is HIV.

Taking antiretroviral treatment (ARV) every night is a constant reminder of the scar he permanently gave her. As such she has anxiety and fears about ever infecting her partner should she be in a relationship or infecting her child should she decide to have a baby.

When handing down the sentence, the Regional Magistrate, Ntlati agreed with the state that Conga showed no remorse and that he committed a very serious offence that had devastating effects on the victim and her family.