Several times previously we have on the Clinical Waste Discussion Forum reported about those who have used hypodermic needles as a weapon, either as a threat of injury or by inflicting needlestick or sharps injury.
Now, we can report the outcome of one such case – at Gloucester Crown Court , a Polish shoplifter Grzegorz Pajak has been jailed for almost 3 years for stabbing a police officer with a hypodermic needle after telling her he was HIV positive.
PC Gemma Newman – who attended a Boots store where Pajak had been caught shoplifting aftershave – is considering leaving front line policing as a result of ‘deep psychological distress’ caused by the attack, the Court was told.
Persistent thief Pajak – who will be deported to Poland once he has served his sentence – also once spat on a police officer who arrested him, and had twice been armed with knives when he went out shoplifting.
Prosecutor Giles Nelson said the police officer is now living with the fear that she may have been infected with HIV. Pajak jabbed a hypodermic needle into the police officer’s arm; she has had tests which have already proved negative for hepatitis C but is still awaiting further test results. Of course, even when seroconversion with any of a range of potential infectious diseases has not occurred, and it can be several agonising months of preventative treatment and anxious waiting to be sure, the immediate and longer -term psychological harm can be severe and long-lasting.