Opinion
June 1, 1995
Appeal from the Family Court, New York County (Mary Bednar, J.).
The sworn testimony of respondent's 15-year-old daughter, characterized by the court as "compelling", was sufficient, standing alone, to prove by a preponderance of the evidence ( Matter of Danielle M., 151 A.D.2d 240, 243) that respondent first engaged her in anal and oral sex when she was between six and seven years old, and after a three-year hiatus, during which he was incarcerated and she was in foster care, resumed his abuse of the child for another four years, by fondling her, forcing her to masturbate him and watch pornographic movies, and performing cunnilingus on her.
The court correctly determined that respondent did not establish a "compelling need for disclosure" of any confidential HIV related information regarding the child, since the abuse petition did not charge him with infecting her, there was no proof that he was HIV positive, and even if the child were HIV negative, that fact would not undermine the proof of abuse against respondent in view of the incubation period of the disease and the nature of the sexual activities involved ( see, Public Health Law § 2785 [a]).
Concur — Rubin, J.P., Kupferman, Asch and Tom, JJ.