Nearly twenty women contacted the Espoo police in the course of Thursday after hearing in the media that an HIV positive man had been remanded in custody on suspicion of three rapes and three counts of attempted manslaughter.

   

According to criminal inspector Jukka Kaski, the women had recognised the man from the news. Kaski believes the number of victims may still grow.

   

On Thursday, eight new possible rape cases also came to light. Most of the callers, however, admitted they had been with the man of their own free will. One of the victims has possibly been infected by HIV.

Suspicions of attempted manslaughter

result from the fact that the man had unprotected sex with the women, whilst knowing he was HIV positive.

   

The man remanded in custody is a 50-year-old African-born musician who has lived in Finland for 20 years and has Finnish citizenship.