Court of Appeal Eases Sentence for Fake Doctor Bihary

Bratislava, 19 June (TASR) - The Senate of the Bratislava Regional Court on Thursday eased the sentence for fake doctor Ivan Bihary in the Iris elderly care home case from nine to 5.5 years in prison. The court found Bihary guilty of the crime of causing health-related harm. However, he was acquitted of the charge of criminal transmission of the HIV virus. The ruling issued by the court of appeal is final and valid. Bihary has also been banned from performing nursing, caregiving and similar activities for five years. He prescribed and administered medicines and drugs to clients of the care facility for the elderly despite lacking the professional competence to do so. According to the indictment, he also contacted people in order to have sexual intercourse for financial reward with them, while concealing that he was HIV positive. However, the court of appeal came to the conclusion that this act was not a crime under the given circumstances. "The levels of the virus that would be capable of transmitting the virus to another person were not detected," said the senate chairman. His co-defendant in the case, Vanessa Putikova, pleaded guilty in 2019. She received a three-year suspended sentence with a probationary period of five years. The woman claimed that the decision to administer medications to the facility's clients was made by her partner in crime. Moreover, she testified that Bihary regularly brought to the care home other individuals who were neither employed nor resident there. Last but not least, she also confessed that she, Bihary and other individuals consumed drugs and alcohol in the facility. ko/mcs