An HIV sufferer infected his teenage girlfriend with the disease after keeping his diagnosis a secret then urged her to ‘sleep around’ in order to spread the illness, a court heard today.

A jury was told the ‘callous’ 32-year-old hid the fact he had the virus from four partners, playing ‘Russian Roulette’ with their lives.

He passed it on to two of them – including the teenager, who was just 16 when they met, it was claimed.

Leicester Crown Court heard the man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, suggested to the college student that they should sleep with other people so they wouldn’t be alone in having HIV.

She wept as she told the hearing how he ‘believed he should spread the virus as he hadn’t done anything wrong to get it’.

His second alleged victim was a woman in her early 20s he met after the teenager left him.

Prosecutors say the ‘utterly selfish’ man had unprotected sex with four women after being diagnosed with HIV in 2004, failing to tell any of them he had the condition.

He denies two counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm between 2006 and 2010. The man claims he
told the women he was HIV positive.

The court heard he met the teenager in Leicester 2006 when she was 16 and he was 26.

She told jurors that a few months into the relationship, he suggested they try for a baby – and although she was ‘surprised’ and thought she was ‘too young’, she agreed because she was in love with him.

The woman, now in her 20s, said that after she went back to college following the birth, he would often bring girls to their home while she was out, claiming they were ‘just friends’.

But when their child was a year old, the man started showing signs of a sexually transmitted infection – which he blamed on her ‘cheating’ – and the couple went to hospital for tests.

The woman, who gave her evidence from behind a screen, broke down as she told how doctors asked if she was aware her partner was HIV positive.

She was tested for the virus – and the following day was given the devastating news that she too had it. Their son was also checked but his result was negative.

The woman told the court: ‘I was very surprised and puzzled because I had been living with this man for two years and he never mentioned it at all to me.

‘He said he had told me, and I said “No, you did not”. That is something that is so important. He didn’t seem fazed by it. It did not surprise him.’

The woman, whose dreams of becoming a midwife were wrecked by the diagnosis, said she managed to forgive him as their son ‘needed two parents’ – but the couple eventually split up in the spring of 2009.

However, before they separated, she told how he asked her to ‘sleep around and give it to other people’.

She added: ‘This was so it would not just be us that were HIV positive.

‘He believed that he had done nothing wrong or anything to get the virus. He believed he should not have the virus so he should spread it.’

The court heard the man’s second alleged began having unprotected sex with him after he told her he ‘could not use condoms’.

In January 2010 she received an anonymous phone call asking who her partner was and suggesting she take an HIV test.

It was claimed the man did not admit to having HIV until the day before the she was due to get her results.

Rebecca Herbert, prosecuting, earlier told jurors: ‘When she went to get the results, she was
expecting the worst and her fears were confirmed.’

She added: ‘Few women in their right minds, let alone two or, indeed, four of them, would have unprotected sex with a man with HIV.

‘He’s been utterly selfish, showing callous disregard and recklessness towards them and their wellbeing.

‘Having unprotected sex with someone who is HIV positive is a bit like Russian Roulette. You might be lucky and might not get it – or you might.’

The police later contacted two other sexual partners of the man and advised them to have tests, which came back negative.

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