Businessman tells of South African prison rape that left him HIV positive. Smith contracted HIV after being repeatedly gang raped. Sean Smith, a business partner of rugby star Gareth Thomas, said he was attacked up to eight times a day during his 19-month stay in St Alban’s jail after his arrest on suspicion of a multi-million-pound fraud.
The 42-year-old, was targeted in a cell he shared with 90 inmates in 2007.
‘They did it not just as part of gang dominance but in my case it was showing supremacy over a white man – I was the only one there,’ he said.
‘It went on for months – there wasn’t much left of me by then anyway… I was pretty much a skeleton.’
After nine months in the jail 30km (17 miles) out of Port Elizabeth, Mr Smith tested positive for HIV.
‘At that point I didn’t give a damn, I was broken, I was broken physically, mentally, I had nothing left I had no spirit at all so I didn’t care,’ he added.
After being granted bail, Mr Smith, from Glamorgan, South Wales, hid in the boot of a British High Commission car and crossed into Lesotho…
