Rape accused says HIV is not serious harm

This article contains details some people may find distressing

Lawyers representing a man accused of deliberately infecting seven men with HIV have told jurors the illness is not seriously harmful.

Adam Hall, 43, is accused of having unprotected sex with young men he met online or at bars in Newcastle without telling them he was HIV positive and while knowing he was infectious.

Hall, from Washington, denies raping five men and seven counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent.

In his closing speech to jurors, his barrister Craig Hassall KC said the condition was "eminently manageable" and "no longer the death sentence" it had once been.

The court has heard Hall was diagnosed with HIV in August 2010 for which he was prescribed medication to keep the virus at undetectable, or non-infectious, levels.

Prosecutors said Hall, who liked to be "dominant" sexually, intended to deliberately wreck the lives of the complainants between 2015 and 2023 by not telling them of his diagnosis and knowingly having unprotected sex with them while not taking his medication.

Hassall had previously told jurors Hall's sexual preference had been "weaponised" against him.

Resuming his closing speech, which began on 9 February but was paused due to a juror being unavailable, Hassall repeated his plea for the jury to assess the evidence "coolly, fairly and objectivity rather than emotionally".

He said the prosecution had tried to make out the case was simple but actually it was "complicated".

He said there were social reasons, such as homophobia and a stigma around HIV, for Hall's accusers to "not tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth" about their sexual encounters and how they got the virus.

He said it could be a "coping mechanism" for the men, pointing out messages one of the men had sent another man which initially described HIV as an "occupational hazard" of having unprotected sex with strangers but then later looked for "someone to blame".

Hassall also said the jury had to seriously consider how much weight to give evidence about conversations which happened many years ago before sexual encounters.

He said the prosecution had claimed Hall was "targeting young new men to the scene" but that could "not be right", as several of the men had been introduced to him, or "brought to him", by other people.

Hassall also disagreed with the prosecution's assertion that Hall was deliberately "spiking" his viral load to make himself more infectious, but over the whole period there were times when Hall was at undetectable levels.

"It is simply not true to say throughout this period of time Adam Hall knew he had a viral load and was highly infectious," the barrister said.

Hassall said Hall, who volunteered for HIV charities, disputed all three elements of deliberately inflicting grievous bodily harm, namely he was the cause of the harm, the harm was serious and that he had intended to do it.

On the issue of cause, Hassall said in most of the cases Hall was "not the only person" the men were having sexual contact with at the time.

Turning to harm, Hassall said: "We do not accept each of these complainants has actually been caused really serious bodily harm."

He said he did not claim any of the men were lying about its impact or "undeserving of sympathy", but advances in medical science had allowed HIV to "become an eminently manageable condition".

Hassall said unlike in the 1980s and '90s, when it was an "incurable fatal disease", there were now multiple medications that prevented HIV being contracted or, in the event of a diagnosis, meant it could be successfully managed.

"We are not saying it's a good idea to go out and try and contract HIV," Hassall said.

"What we are saying is there have been really fantastic medical advances recently which mean it is no longer the death sentence it was back in the 1980s and '90s," he said.

The trial continues.

• If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article, help can be found at BBC Action Line

Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.