HIV accused 'first to mind' after diagnosis

This article contains sexual details some people may find distressing

A man who claims he was deliberately given HIV has told jurors the accused was the "first person that came to mind" after he found out he had a sexually transmitted disease.

The man, who was in his early 20s at the time, told Newcastle Crown Court Adam Hall picked him up for sex within an hour of the pair meeting on the app Grindr.

He was diagnosed with HIV six weeks after their first sexual contact, the court heard.

Mr Hall, 43 and from Washington, denies raping five men and and seven counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, with prosecutors alleging he met men online and at bars in Newcastle.

Prosecutors have said Mr Hall knew he was HIV positive, having been diagnosed in 2010, but did not tell sexual partners, did not use protection and did not take the drugs he should have to make him non-infectious.

The latest complainant jurors have heard from said Mr Hall picked him up and took him to the defendant's home "within an hour" of the pair meeting on Grindr.

They had unprotected consensual sex multiple times over the following days with there being no discussion of their sexually transmitted illness statuses, the court heard.

Within a week of their final encounter, the man said he felt "very unwell", although he thought it was the flu.

He said he had a fever, was "really sick", struggled to sleep and felt as if someone was pushing at his eyes from inside his head.

"It was horrible, I've never had anything like it in my life," he said.

Several weeks after their encounter, the man got a message from a sexual health clinic informing him he had had sexual contact with someone who had since been diagnosed with gonorrhoea.

The man said Mr Hall was "the first person that came to mind" so he messaged him saying "have you got something to tell us", the court heard.

He said Mr Hall replied as if "just trying to justify he'd got nothing".

Mr Hall later replied with a screenshot of a sexual disease test showing clear results and then blocked the man after he told Mr Hall he "needed more than that", jurors heard.

The man had an HIV test and he was confirmed to be positive about a month and a half after his first contact with Mr Hall.

When asked by prosecutor Kama Melly KC what impact the diagnosis had, the man said he had researched how to kill himself as he "just thought I've got nothing to go on for".

He said he now took medication every day which was "an absolute drain" and had moved away due to the negative response he got from people.

The trial continues.

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