Hairdresser deliberately infected male lovers with HIV, court hears
A HAIRDRESSER conducted “a cynical and deliberate campaign” to infect other men with HIV, a court has heard.
Daryll Rowe, 26, is accused of insisting on unprotected sex with a string of partners he met through the gay dating app Grindr.
He allegedly claimed to be free of the virus or tampered with the condom when they insisted he used them. Rowe later sent the men mocking text messages telling them he was HIV positive, Lewes Crown Court heard.
Rowe, originally from Edinburgh, is charged with infecting four men with the virus and attempting to infect a further six between Oct 2015 and Dec 2016. He was living and working in the Brighton area at the time of the alleged offences.
Caroline Carberry QC, prosecuting, described his alleged crimes as “a cynical and deliberate campaign to infect other men with HIV”. She added: “Unfortunately for many of the men he met, his campaign was successful.” 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, said Ms Carberry, but were concerned when he refused vaccination for common illnesses to which HIV positive patients are susceptible, such as pneumonia. They were also worried when he refused antiretroviral drugs to slow the development of the virus and make those infected with HIV less contagious, jurors heard. Ms Carberry said: “He was warned he could be prosecuted for passing [HIV] on or even putting someone at risk.”
She continued: “He told his doctors he was not going to engage in any unprotected sex again, but failed to attend further appointments in Edinburgh and by this time he had moved to Brighton.”
Through Grindr, prosecutors say, he was in contact with men he would later go on to infect or try to infect. The court heard that one complainant last tested negative for HIV on the morning he met Rowe in Oct 2015 and did not have sex again before he was diagnosed with HIV two months later.
When another insisted he use a condom, Rowe later allegedly told him in a phone call: “I ripped the condom. You’re so stupid. You didn’t even know.”
Judge Christine Hensen has granted all victims the right to lifelong anonymity and the option to give evidence from behind a screen so they won’t have to face Rowe in court. The trial, which is expected to last six weeks, continues.