Expatica news

Rapist gave mentally disabled patients Aids

3 June 2005

BRUSSELS – A night watchman who worked at a home for the mentally disabled has been convicted of raping and infecting patients with Aids.

On Friday, the Belgian newspaper ‘La Derniere Heure’ reported that Paul Rulinda had been sentenced to eight years by Nivelles Court.

In the 1990s, Rulinda, a Belgo-Rwandan, worked in a home in Mont-Saint-Guibert, in Brabant-Wallon, where he regularly administered medicine to patients on the night shift.

In 1993, the home discovered a case of HIV and began an investigation. The same year, a further two patients were found to be infected, followed by four more in 1994.

Doctors first checked medical instruments and the habits of the patients, but it was not until 1996 that patients started to accuse Rulinda of rape. In 1999, he was found to have AIDS and the rare type of the virus he had was found to be identical to that of the patients.

The home was closed after the truth emerged and Rulinda was prosecuted.

After his conviction on Thursday afternoon, Rulinda announced he would appeal. The public ministry called for him to be imprisoned while he awaits the appeal, but the court ruled that it didn’t have any reason to suspect he would not return to court.

Rulinda, who lives in Tirlemont, is now working for a Brussels institution which looks after drug addicts, reported ‘La Derniere Heure’.

[Copyright Expatica 2005]

Subject: Belgian news