Turkish man jailed for infecting woman with Hepatitis B
Ercan Yasar's 27-year-old victim spent nine days in hospital after falling deeply ill following the unprotected sexual liaison in September 2007.
She will now have to live with the dangerous Hepatitis B virus for life and her family say she has been mentally scarred and will never trust men again.
At Gloucester Crown Court the family, who attended in her absence, rejoiced after restaurant worker Yasar, who is expected to be deported after completing his sentence, was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to biological grievous bodily harm between September 14 and 17.
Hepatitis B causes liver inflammation, vomiting, jaundice and is potentially fatal, even causing liver cancer. Chlamydia can potentially render a woman infertile.
Sentencing Yasar, 29, recorder Neil Ford QC said: "You knew for a number of years before this single incident of intercourse that you were infected with Hepatitis B.
"You had intercourse and you had it unprotected. You knew something she didn't, namely that you carried a potentially infectious and dangerous disease.
"Your act of unprotected sex was an extremely inconsiderate, selfish and dangerous one. You satisfied your sexual urges without thought of the danger that you were causing her."
After the case, believed to be the first of its kind in Gloucestershire, a relative, who can not be named for legal reasons, said: "We are delighted, the police have not let us down in this case, because naturally we did worry that he would get away with it.
"She has to live with this for the rest of her life - she was very, very ill.
"We were all terrified when she went into hospital and visited her everyday. She was an emotional wreck and had no idea what was wrong with her.
"Even when she had the results she didn't think it was related to Ercan because she trusted him. Her family and close friends have supported her in the best way they can but it has turned her life upside down.
"She still doesn't trust any men and it has ruined her life.
"She is 27, on her own and there is no hope of that changing at the moment - she has no interest in being with anybody.
"Thankfully physically she is 100 per cent and is getting on with the rest of her life as best she can.
"But it has mentally scarred her and it has put her off all men which is a shame because not all men are like that.
"He did these things to her knowing exactly what he had. I met him and he seemed nice and we thought she may have a good one but he let us all down."
Earlier the court heard from Giles Nelson, prosecuting, that Yasar had met the woman in a night club in Cheltenham and that they had exchanged telephone numbers.
He said they swapped text messages for three to four weeks before a sexual relationship developed.
"She visited the defendant's home address in September and they had unprotected sex," Mr Nelson said.
The complainant began to feel unwell shortly afterwards and was experiencing pain when she passed water.
"It transpired that she had in fact been infected with Chlamydia.
"She texted the defendant saying that she had been infected and told him he should get himself checked but his reply was that he did not have anything.
"By December 3 she had become extremely unwell. She had terrible pain across her chest and described a constant feeling of pain.
"She was struggling to eat and drink. On December 8 she saw yellow in the whites of her eyes and was very sick indeed.
"She attended accident and emergency and was admitted to hospital between December 8 and 17. "She was informed on December 18 that she had Hepatitis B which she would carry for life."
Mr Nelson said police unearthed evidence that Yasar knew he had Hepatitis B since 2003.
He added that in a meeting with a nurse in June 2007 it was "impressed upon him that he should always have protected sex."
In his first police interview Yasar said that the woman was aware that he was infected but in a subsequent interview he admitted that was not the case.
"He admitted that he had unprotected sex knowing that he had the disease and knowing that he had passed the disease onto her," Mr Nelson said.
"This is a disease that the complainant will carry for life."
Lloyd Jenkins, defending, said admitted that his client's actions were "extremely sinister and foolish," but said that what had happened was out of character.
He said that Yasar, of St Paul's Street North, Cheltenham had not expected the woman to come to his house that evening and that they had both drunk vodka before getting carried away in the "heat of the moment."
"They had unprotected sex, no one mentioned a condom, it was a spur of the moment thing," Mr Jenkins said.
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