Fri 19 Jun 2009 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Accused: Glenn Mills 10.50AM: A 40 year old Auckland commuter train driver, Glenn Richard Albert Mills, has just been revealed to be the man dubbed the 'HIV predator' and charged with recklessly exposing seven young people to HIV infection. Mills' identity was suppressed when he first appeared in court two weeks ago charged with exposing four young men to HIV, for which he had tested positive in May 2007. Earlier this week it emerged in court that police had identified two more alleged victims, one a 19-year old woman. In a brief court appearance this morning two more charges relating to a seventh complainant were laid. That complainant is a 20-year old male who has HIV and the charges regard infecting with HIV and wounding with reckless disregard. In our first reporting of the allegations over a month ago GayNZ.com reported that we had provisionally identified seven people claiming to have been exposed to HIV infection by Mills, but it is feared that now his identity has been made public more of his sex partners may come forward. Mills is said to have hooked up with vulnerable younger people, primarily men in their late teens or twenties, through the internet, phone dating services and gay venues, and to have 'groomed' them by building trust and isolating them from friends and family before engaging in unsafe sex. Using nicknames such as Cero and claiming to be in his early 30s, Mills, who resided in Eden Terrace on the fringe of inner-city Auckland, maintained profiles on a variety of internet dating sites such as NZ Dating, GayNZ.com Dating and some overseas-based websites which specialise in people seeking unsafe sex. He shut down most of his dating profiles when first approached by GayNZ.com on May 7th. On May 15 police began an investigation after being advised by GayNZ.com of the allegations we were about to publish. It emerged that several sexual health services had become concerned about recurring allegations against Mills but had been constrained by privacy laws and outdated public health legislation from effectively pursuing the matter. Mills lived for some time in Wellington before arriving in Auckland around two years ago. There are fears that he may have infected more people in the Capital and perhaps right throughout the country. Gay community HIV service organisations such as the NZ AIDS Foundation and Body Positive say Mills' alleged behaviour has been the exception to the norm amongst people who know they have the debilitating HIV virus. In a news item published yesterday GayNZ.com detailed gay-focussed sexual health services which have geared up their services in anticipation of a rise in requests for advice and HIV testing following Mills' identity being made public this morning. Mills, who faces up to 14 years imprisonment on each of the charges, has been remanded in custody to appear in court again on July 1st for a pre-depositions hearing.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Friday, 19th June 2009 - 11:17am