Call to deport HIV assault man

Apr 3 2008 By Graeme Whitfield

An asylum seeker with HIV who bit a Northumbria Police officer should be deported, a Police Federation chief has said.

Handcuffed Mlungisi Moyo, 31, lunged forward from the back seat of a patrol car and broke the officer’s skin after being arrested on Tuesday night in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear.

The unnamed Northumbria Police officer must now wait three months to hear if he has been infected with the virus, or Hepatitis B, which Moyo also carries.

The Zimbabwean asylum seeker, who settled on Tyneside in 2002, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to assaulting a police officer, drink-driving and driving with no licence or insurance.

He was granted conditional bail and will reappear before Gateshead Magistrates’ Court on April 23 for sentencing following reports.

Russ Watson, chairman of Northumbria Police Federation, called for a hefty sentence and for Moyo to be deported.

He said: ``As a society we have opened our doors to asylum seekers and I have no problem with that.

``The problem exists when that individual throws the trust and sanctuary we have given him back in our faces by assaulting a Crown servant.

``That individual then gives up their right to remain in the United Kingdom, I think."

Mr Watson said the injured officer, who has not been identified, will be supported by colleagues during the three-month wait.