HIV accused ‘slept with 200’

An HIV-positive Melbourne man accused of trying to infect at least 16 men with the virus told a doctor he had unprotected sex with around 200 men in one year, a court has heard.

Dr Giles Brewster told Melbourne Magistrates Court this week Michael Neal told him the figure while being treated for gonorrhoea in 2003, the Age reported.

Neal, 48, is accused of deliberately attempting to infect 16 men with HIV between 2000 and 2005. Some of the men he allegedly had unsafe sex with have since been diagnosed with HIV.

A police officer told Melbourne Magistrates Court earlier this year police haven’t even scratched the surface when asked if Neal might have passed the virus on to others.

Neal is also facing other charges, including possessing and producing child pornography.

The court also heard this week from one of Neal’s former lovers, who said he believed he was infected with HIV by Neal, but was not one of the 16 alleged victims in the current case.

The man, who cannot be named, told the court his former lover Neal had promised to seed him, the Herald Sun reported.

The man alleged Neal told him: You will be daddy’s little pos [HIV-positive] boy.

Neal and the witness began their relationship in late 2001. The witness was HIV-negative at the time.

When the witness found out he had HIV in 2004, he asked Neal about his intentions.

When asked in court if he had told people that Neal tried to deliberately infect him, the witness said: Yes -¦ there have been times when I have felt that happened.

Neal’s former lover also said he had seen Neal participating in group sex and having sex at various Melbourne gay venues.

Neal remains in custody after being refused bail earlier this year.