AN HIV positive couple demanded a refund after they were asked to leave a public swimming pool for engaging in a sex act, a court has heard.
Lukasz Rutkowski, 23, was spotted fondling Tanya Kalonga’s breast and then simulating oral sex on her while children and adults were swimming nearby.
But when pool staff and police officers tried to throw them out of the public baths the couple refused and demanded their entrance money back.
And during the struggle to remove them from the pool at Edinburgh’s Ainslie Park Leisure Centre, Kalonga, 21, spat at police officers and a pool attendant and Rutkowski, 23, bit one police constable in the leg.
Three police officers and a member of pool staff had to wait six months to find out if they had been infected with HIV.
Fiscal depute Michelle Young said two attendants at the pool spotted Polish Rutkowski and Zimbabwean Kalonga in the act just after 3pm.
Unconcerned
“They observed a male and a female within the swimming pool with numerous adults and young children,” she said.
“At this time Rutkowski was seen to be fondling Kalonga’s breast through her swim suit, exposing them in the process. Rutkowski then picked her up out of the water and began simulating oral sex while she sat on his shoulders with her groin in his face. Both were unconcerned there were children present and that they had gotten the attention of many of the people in the pool.”
The couple were asked to stop by one attendant, but they refused, the fiscal said.
Pool supervisor John Kenny then asked them to leave the centre. “However, they again refused and began to shout and swear at him demanding they get a refund,” said Miss Young.
“Mr Kenny informed them they were not to get a refund and they were to leave the centre immediately.”
The police were called after Rutkowski threatened to shoot Mr Kenny and his family, the fiscal said.
When officers arrived the couple were still in the pool and they were once again asked to leave. But one of them shouted “I want my f***ing entrance money back”, the court heard.
They then agreed to leave the pool. Officers then put Rutkowski on the ground where he struggled violently with them.
One officer received a laceration to his hand and Rutkowski was left with cuts to his knee as a result, the fiscal said.
The cut, along with the officer’s clothes, was “contaminated” by Rutkowski’s blood, the court heard.
Both were placed in leg restraints as they were taken out of the building and ferried off to one of the city’s police stations.
During the struggle Kalonga spat at three police officers and Rutkowski called them Nazi’s and hurled racist abuse, the court heard.
Rutkowski pleaded guilty to lashing out with his arms and legs at one male constable while both men were bleeding at the leisure centre.
He also admitted biting one officer and hurling racist abuse at another.
Kalonga admitted scratching the arms of one police officer and spitting at him and anothers. She also spat at Mr Kenny.
And at the city’s St Leonard Police Station she spat at another officer and tried to bite her arm.
Both Kalonga and Rutkowski admitted engaging in sexual activity within the pool and threatening Mr Kenny during the incident on August 9.
Confirmed
They had initially been charged with appearing to have sexual intercourse, but that element of the allegation was dropped during today’s hearing at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.
They were both said to have known they were HIV positive at the time of the incident. But those claims were also dropped from the charges.
But the fiscal said: “It was confirmed by a check on the police national database that there was a marker in relation to both accused who had HIV. This was also confirmed by medical staff. Both had previously been diagnosed with this.”
Miss Young added that three police officers along with Mr Kenny were treated with preventative medication for HIV infection for three days afterwards. “The medication is very powerful and somewhat painful,” she said. “The side effects include nausea, diarrhoea and lethargy. The officers weren’t able to work and also had a six month waiting period to establish whether they had contracted HIV as a result.”
Defence agent Jim Clarke said Rutkowski regretted the “hurt” caused, particularly to those under threat of contracting his condition.
Lawyer Melissa Rutherford asked that Kalonga be released on bail. “She is experiencing a very hard time in prison, she is suffering from bullying because of her condition and racial bullying,” she said.
The agent said Kalonga was a “vulnerable adult” and had an IQ of just 68.
But Sheriff Nigel Morrison QC refused bail because of the nature of the charges. Rutkowski, who made no application for bail, was also remanded while reports are prepared for their sentencing next month.
Both were listed in court papers as being prisoners in Edinburgh Prison.
