AN EVIL husband who injected his wife with his HIV-contaminated blood in New Zealand can today be named as Zimbabwean Artwell Chakanyuka.

Twisted Chakanyuka, 35, drew blood from his veins with a syringe and injected his sleeping wife with the virus so that they would be "equals" and she would start having sex with him again.

Chakanyuka, who was jailed for eight years and four months on February 3, wanted to give her the disease because she had refused to have sex with him, fearing she would be infected.

On Tuesday this week, a judge lifted a name suppression order which was requested by the woman last December as she feared being identified if her estranged husband’s name became public.

Auckland High Court Justice Ailsa Duffy initially granted interim name suppression late last year so that the woman's lawyer, Lester Cordwell, could argue her case for suppression to be continued.

But after a hearing last week, the judge ruled against continuing name suppression, though she acknowledged that that was likely to identify the 33-year-old victim.

Chakanyuka and his now estranged wife were given until 5PM Tuesday to appeal the judge's decision, or name suppression would lapse. No appeal was lodged.

Justice Duffy said: "The combination of the presumption of open justice, and the potential risk of other members of the community being infected with HIV as a result of Chakanyuka's conduct, must outweigh the privacy interests of the victim and her children."

New Zealand police have now made a public appeal for Chakanyuka’s former sexual partners to come forward and get tested after releasing his photo.

Justice Duffy said there was "uncontested evidence" that Chakanyuka had had sex with other women who ought to be told of the risks they and their existing or potential partners now faced.

She said the Crown was concerned that there was nothing to indicate that Chakanyuka had told the other women he was HIV-positive or that he had practised safe sex with them.

Police said Chakanyuka had been sexually active for some years in Auckland after arriving with his family from Zimbabwe in 2004.

"We have been able to determine that the offender has been sexually active with other women in the Auckland area over the last few years," said Detective Simon Jeffries, of the Counties Manukau Police.

"Anyone who hasn't already been in touch with police or health services regarding contact with this man and who has concerns for their health, should contact a doctor or health provider as soon as possible."

Chakanyuka’s trial last year heard moving evidence from the victim who told of her terror when she realised what had happened.

"All he said was he was sorry," she said in a statement read in court. "He said: 'I used needles on you because I wanted you to be the same as me so that you can live with me and you won't leave me.'"

She added: "I just wanted to maintain the relationship for the sake of the children ... He insisted on staying and mentioned that he was not worried about sex ... any more. All he wanted was to see the children grow with both parents under one roof."

But in May last year, she said, she discovered a sting-like mark on her left thigh. "After having a shower I put some lotion on myself and I could feel pain on my thigh. When I looked at it, it was turning red like a circle, getting bigger and bigger."

Later that morning, when she returned home from her nursing studies unexpectedly to find her husband in the bedroom with a syringe full of blood.

When she asked him what he was doing, he pushed past her and walked away, refusing to discuss it. The wife searched a rubbish bin for evidence of the syringe but found nothing.

Two days later, she woke to a stinging feeling in her leg. "In my sleep, I felt a prick on my leg I got up ... and I flicked the blankets ... I looked at (the husband) and he was wide awake."

She said she asked him if he had pricked her and he said he had not. But later, she found evidence of "blood sprinkles" on their duvet, which, she said, her husband tried to hide from her.

She told him to leave the house - and in September, when her doctor suggested a test at a routine check-up, she found she was HIV-positive.

A nurse who had been in contact with the family and who was present when her GP told her the bad news told the court: "At this meeting (the woman) was beside herself with emotion. (She) could not work out how she had got HIV because she stated that she had not had sex with her partner for about a year. Before abstaining, she had undergone four tests for HIV and was found to be clear.”

Later, during a meeting with an infectious disease specialist, the husband cried and repeated: "Please forgive me."

The court heard that Chakanyuka knew of his HIV status on the day he came to New Zealand in 2004 after undergoing compulsory health checks. It was found that while he was carrying the virus, his wife and children were not infected.