Posted on 02/10/2007 11:03:06 AM PST by La Enchiladita
REGINAThe wife who steadfastly stood behind her HIV-positive husband as the sordid details of his affairs were exposed in court broke down in sobs yesterday when the former football player was hauled away to jail.
Trevis Smith, a one-time CFL linebacker, was convicted of aggravated sexual assault for exposing two women to the virus that causes AIDS by having unprotected sex without telling them about his condition.
Provincial court Judge Kenn Bellerose, who delayed sentencing until Feb.26, warned Smith he will be going to prison.
"I'll be brutally honest with you. It's not going to be a community-based sentence," Bellerose told Smith's lawyer. "In my mind, all I'm looking at is what length of penitentiary sentence."
It appeared to be too much for Smith's wife, Tamika, who had sat in the front row of the public gallery throughout her husband's week-long trial and even testified in his defence.
As Smith waved while being taken away by guards, she collapsed in tears and had to be comforted by supporters.
"Very devastated," she told reporters on the courthouse steps. "We have two small kids that I have to explain (to) that daddy is not coming home."
The charges were laid after the two women one from British Columbia and the other from Regina came forward in the fall of 2005. Neither has tested positive for the virus.
The woman from Regina, whom Smith at one point appeared to glare at as Bellerose read his decision, left court without speaking to anyone.
The woman from B.C., who wasn't in court for the decision, was overjoyed when contacted at home.
"I honestly feel 10 pounds lighter," she said. "Finally I can close this chapter in my life. I'm finally done with this part of my life and can move on."
The decision also brought closure to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, a team Smith spent seven years with.
"The whole situation has just been extremely unfortunate, I think, for so many people," team president Jim Hopson said.
During the trial, the B.C. woman testified she had a relationship with Smith that spanned more than three years.
She said the two had unprotected sex numerous times after he found out he was HIV-positive in November 2003. But he never told her he had the virus, she testified, even when he knew she planned to donate a kidney to her ailing father.
Smith testified he told the woman about his condition in August 2004 and that the two used condoms during sex from that point.
The revelation that he disclosed his status to the woman ran counter to a "general admission that Mr. Smith did not inform his sexual partners that he was HIV-positive." That admission was entered into evidence by Smith's lawyers at the start of the trial.
Smith's lawyer, Marie-Helene Giroux, said the defence will review the case before deciding whether to file an appeal.
Ping.
Absolutely. There were documented cases of it during the 80s in which organ donors who did not know their HIV status passed the virus on to unsuspecting recipients.
And how did this 'playa' get the virus... does he swing both ways?
The secret life of Trevis Smith
December 03, 2005
(Saskatoon StarPhoenix, with files from Anne Kyle and Rob Vanstone/Regina Leader-Post)
Travis is a frickin' mutt. He should get life.
Wonder who buggard him to give him the HIV virus. Wonder if his wife was aware of the 3 year relationship after crying about the children. Then about him giving other women (other men too) the jollies. I'm not sympathetic.
Apparently, he was a Roughrider.
Compulsive liar, no conscience, believes his own lies. These are usually the "quiet types." Beware of them.
However, some of these gals have to own up to being enablers. Since he was a well-known athlete, he could not hide his marital status, especially if someone wanted to know. Most of all, since one of these affairs was revealed to his wife shortly after the birth of their first child, why did she stay married to him and bear another child with him? What is her HIV status?
And, last but not least: his children?
Wonder if he's an old friend of Magic Johnson?
Or Dennis Rodman?
Barry Manilow?
Ellen deGeneres?
Barney Frank?
Anne Heche (she doesn't have a clue as to her sexual preferences)?
expat American in Canada bump
Well, I have expat relatives that live longterm in Alberta.
(but that's like saying they live in cold corner of Texas!)
That girl's last name reminds me of one of my cats yackin' up a furball!
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