Lawyers for an HIV-infected Thai stripper are going to court Monday in a bid to get dismissed a $30-million lawsuit filed by her ex-husband.
Percy Whiteman, 34, of Toronto, is suing his ex, Suwalee Iamkhong, the Canada Border Services Agency, Immigration Canada and the Zanzibar Tavern, alleging their negligence led to him contracting HIV.
Whiteman claims Iamkhong, 40, a former go-go dancer and prostitute in Hong Kong, was allowed into Canada with HIV and that led to his life being placed in jeopardy.
Iamkhong arrived in Canada in 1995 and worked as a stripper at the Zanzibar Tavern on Yonge St. until 2004. The pair were married from 1997 to 2004, when she told him that she had HIV.
[Percy Whiteman, left, with lawyer Sal Grillo outside Osgoode Hall in Toronto, Tuesday, March 24, 2009. Whiteman's ex-wife, a Thai-born stripper, is fighting Whiteman's $30-million lawsuit. (QMI/Tom Godfrey, file)]
Iamkhong was sentenced in August 2007 to two years in jail after being convicted of criminal negligence causing bodily harm for infecting Whiteman.
She appealed her sentence and it was reduced to two years less a day, allowing her to appeal a deportation order.
FAILED TO CONDUCT TEST
“The government failed to conduct an HIV test,” Whiteman’s lawyer, Maurice Benzaquen, said yesterday.
“Percy is suffering from this illness because the government failed to protect him.”
The tests are now mandatory for immigrants over the age of 15. It will cost Whiteman a fortune in medical bills to control his illness, he said.
“If he is successful in this action, he will have some money to help himself,” Benzaquen said. “It costs thousands of dollars a month for medical cocktails.”
The case now being heard in court is the first involving a lawsuit against federal immigration authorities over a lack of HIV tests, he said. “I am trying to secure my future,” Whiteman said. “I will have to look after my medical needs.”
Whiteman said he’s not going to rest until Iamkhong is deported. “I can’t wait until she’s deported because of what she has done to me,” he said. “I want to see justice done.”
Iamkhong is being detained on an immigration hold. Her Toronto lawyer couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday.
bron: cnews.canoe.ca [30-12-2009]
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