drop all charges against a construction foreman accused of killing a dog that bit an AIDS patient who worked for him. AIDS, or acquired immuno-deficiency syndrome, is a disease of the immune system, which breaks down and does not respond normally to infection. It is often fatal.
But the dog does not transmit AIDS.
That, however, was unknown to many people, including the foreman who calls himself Wang.
The dog in question bit one of Wang’s workers early in December last year, said its owner who filed complaints with the Taipei district court against the foreman’s “cruelty to the animal.”
That unidentified construction worker and the husband of the pet’s owner used to be colleagues. The former visited the latter to borrow a “tool” when he was bitten.
“I have AIDS,” the worker was quoted as crying when he was bitten.
“Could it be transmitted to the dog?” she asked. “Maybe” was the answer.
Three days later, the dog owner, known as Mrs. Kao, told the prosecutor her pet was beaten to death.
Her husband and nine-year-old son testified against Wang. The son even produced a steel chain, which he claimed was “the weapon of murder.”
He urged the prosecutor to run a fingerprint test on it, too.
The prosecutor did not comply.
For one thing, the prosecutor told the plaintiff, AIDS can’t be transmitted by a dog bite.
Moreover, Kao had “some money trouble” with Wang, the prosecutor found out. He could not rule out possibilities that Kao falsely accused Wang to avenge himself.
So Wang was absolved. He did not file complaints about false accusation, however.
The only victim in the total episode was the dog that was falsely accused of possibly being infecting with the HIV or human immuno-deficiency virus that causes AIDS.
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