Drunken HIV pair jailed after pool sex act

Published on Wednesday 7 December 2011 00:00

A DRUNKEN couple with HIV, who attacked police called to eject them from a public pool after they were spotted carrying out a sex act, have been jailed.

Lukasz Rutkowski, 23, and Tanya Kalonga, 21, were sentenced to two years and 19 months respectively following the incident at Edinburgh’s Ainslie Park Leisure Centre in August.

Staff tried to throw the drunken pair out of the pool when they were seen behaving in an inappropriate manner as children and adults swam nearby. Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard the couple had drank three bottles of vodka between them before entering the pool.

When asked by an attendant to get out of the water, they refused. Police were called when Rutkowski threatened to shoot pool supervisor John Kenny and his family.

When three officers arrived, the couple were still in the pool and they were once again asked to leave. One of them shouted, “I want my f***ing entrance money back”, the court heard.

Kalonga spat at the officers and a pool attendant, and injured one officer on the hand as they tried to pull her from the pool.

Rutkowski struggled violently and hurled racist abuse, calling the officers “Nazis”. During the struggle, one officer was bitten in the leg. Rutkowski was left with cuts to his knee, causing him to bleed on to the officer’s clothes.

Both Rutkowski and Kalonga were placed in leg restraints as they were taken from the building to a police station.

Rutkowski pleaded guilty to lashing out at one male constable while both men were bleeding.

He also admitted biting one officer and hurling racist abuse at another.

Kalonga admitted scratching the arms of one police officer and spitting at him and one of his colleagues. She also admitted spitting at Mr Kenny.

Defence agent Melissa Rutherford said Kalonga claimed to social workers that she was “not involved in sexual activity” in the pool.

Despite defence claims that the risk of HIV infection was “negligible”, Sheriff Nigel Morrison QC, said yesterday the victims had been through a mental and physical ordeal.

Jailing the couple, Sheriff Morrison said: “I think this is a very serious incident. Victims were not to know there was a negligible risk of infection.”

He said one constable in particular faced a different risk “because blood was involved”.

The sheriff added that those at risk also received “unpleasant medical treatment whether it was absolutely necessary or not”.

He told the court: “I think the only appropriate sentence is a custodial one.”

The court earlier heard Kalonga had arrived from Zimbabwe aged ten and was diagnosed as HIV positive shortly afterwards.

Her agent Ms Rutherford said: “She advises she has not dealt with the consequences of suffering from this condition. Throughout her childhood she felt isolated and used alcohol to deal with these issues.”

Defence agent Matthew Auchincloss for Rutkowski said: “They had both been drinking and there was a degree of immaturity in the way they reacted to the swimming pool staff when asked to leave.”

Both Rutkowski and Kalonga were listed in court papers as being prisoners in Edinburgh Prison.