Daryll Rowe is charged with infecting four men with HIV after meeting them on Grindr and attempting to infect another six
A hairdresser accused of deliberately infecting a string of lovers with HIV told one alleged victim ‘I ripped the condom. Burn. I got you,’ a court was told.
Daryll Rowe, 26, who was HIV positive, sent a series of abusive texts after the pair met on Grindr and had sex.
In the days after they met Rowe called the man and laughed down the phone as he told him he had sabotaged the condom.
The alleged victim claims he was horrified as he had had insisted Rowe wear a condom believed the pair had engaged in safe sex.
Weeks later he began to suffer from a sore throat, swollen glands and fatigue and later tested positive for HIV.
Rowe, who is originally from Edinburgh but was living in Brighton at the time, denies infecting four men with the virus and attempting to infect a further six men with the virus.
The hairdresser denies four counts of causing grievous bodily harm and six counts of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm.
Lewes Crown Court heard the US-born victim met and had sex with Rowe in November 2015
Rowe told the second victim he preferred unprotected sex without a condom, but the man replied: ‘No, I don’t do that,’ the court heard,
Rowe replied: ‘Come on, come on. I’m fine you know you want it,’ the jury were told.
When the alleged victim refused he said: ‘That’s fine I’ll use a condom.’
The court heard today that Rowe messaged one alleged victim saying: ‘I ripped the condom. Burn. I got you.’
The alleged victim said he was stunned when he began to receive abusive messages after the liaison.
Giving evidence from behind a screen, the second victim said: ‘I didn’t want to hang out with him because he was really aggressive.
‘He was being rude and insulting me. Just calling me “Stupid American”.’
Then he received a series of calls from Rowe who laughed down the phone and told the victim he had ejaculated in him without him knowing.
The alleged victim said: ‘He said “I ripped the condom. Burn. I got you.” and I said: “Why would you even say that?” I was freaking out.’
Earlier the court heard that Rowe had sex with at least 10 men he met on Grindr after being diagnosed as HIV positive.
In each case Rowe either refused to wear a condom or ‘sabotaged’ the contraception before having sex.
Afterwards he would send ‘abusive’ and ‘mocking’ texts to the alleged victims claiming he had HIV.
The court heard Rowe had lost contact with his doctor after his diagnosis. He denies charges
The 26-year-old sent a text message to one victim saying: ‘Maybe you have the fever coz I came inside you and I have HIV LOL. Whoops!’
Rowe had been diagnosed with HIV while he was still living in Edinburgh in April 2015 after a sexual health clinic contacted him to tell him a former partner was infected.
Doctors found he was ‘coping well’ with his diagnosis but were concerned when he refused vaccination for common illnesses HIV positive patients are susceptible to, such as pneumonia.
They were also worried when he refused antiretroviral drugs to slow the development of the virus and make him less contagious, jurors heard.
The court heard that the four men Rowe is accused of infecting with HIV all had very similar strains to the one Rowe was infected with, making it highly likely that he was the source of the virus.
The trial, which is expected to last six weeks, continues.
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