A BULAWAYO man has been arraigned for deliberately infecting his 15-year-old girlfriend-cum-tenant with HIV.
The man (32) who cannot be named to protect the minor, also impregnated the girl.
He pleaded not guilty to deliberately infecting the girl with HIV before regional magistrate Mr Mark Dzira.
He was remanded in custody to yesterday for continuation of trial but did not appear in court.
In his defence the man, said he tested HIV negative last year in September when he got his tooth extracted.
“When I met her, she told me that she had never had sexual intercourse with anyone. However, after our first encounter she confessed she had had sex before,” he said.
“We continued indulging until she fell pregnant. I was then arrested in January this year as it was alleged that I had raped her with my wife’s assistance.”
The man claimed that he only tested HIV positive after he was remanded in custody. Prosecuting Mr Tinashe Dzipe alleges that sometime in November 2015 and January 2016, the man had unprotected sex with the girl several times while he knew he was infected.
“The girl was later examined and it was discovered that she was HIV positive and pregnant.”