A woman has told the Circuit Criminal Court that a man alleged to have recklessly infected her with HIV blamed it on her when she told him she had been diagnosed.

The man is on trial accused of causing serious harm to two women by infecting them with HIV.

The 27-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identities of the women, has pleaded not guilty to intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to the women on dates between November 2009 and June 2010.

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The second woman to allege that the man recklessly infected her with HIV gave evidence this morning. The court heard she has two children and that the accused is the father of both.

She told prosecuting counsel, Dominic McGinn that she met the accused man, who is originally from an African country, in 2009, when she was in college in the city centre. A romantic relationship began a week later.

The young woman said they first had sex in a hotel before going to the cinema.

Asked about contraception, she said the man had a condom on but took it off and she thought that was very sneaky.

She said he would not use contraception on further occasions. She said they were going steady for a while, but the relationship was on and off after that.

In 2010, she went to the doctor suffering from abdominal pains and was diagnosed with chlamydia. The doctor then said she should be tested for everything and she found out that she was HIV positive.

She said she was with her mother and was in shock. When she told the man she said she did not remember what he said but she remembered that he blamed it on her.

The woman went on to have two children with the man.

She took medication while she was pregnant and neither child has HIV.

She said she and the man were on and off and he would never leave her alone.

Under cross-examination from defence counsel Paul Greene, she said he never left her alone even when she tried to get away from him.

She said he harassed and called her all the time. Mr Greene said he took issue with the allegation of harassment on behalf of his client.

She said she was aware of methods to prevent becoming pregnant and had taken advice from doctors.

The young woman claimed the second pregnancy was unplanned. She said she had had sex in an apartment in town with the man. Again, she said he would not leave her alone, kept ringing her and following her everywhere.

She said after that she began staying with him at weekends, because he wanted to help out with the baby.

The woman admitted she was still in contact with the man, sending him messages and video messages in January this year.

The woman was asked about her sexual history and said she lost her virginity to an African man whom she met through other people from Africa living in Ireland.

She agreed she told gardaí she had a few casual relationships with other men, "mainly African", around that time.

She told prosecuting lawyers that she had always used condoms with these men, but also told lawyers for the defence that she had oral sex with some of them.

The woman's mother said she became aware of the relationship between her daughter and the man, in 2009 or 2010.

She said she noticed her daughter become depressed, cagey, hiding, ducking and diving around.

She said she went to see the man with her daughter before she was diagnosed, and told him she was having her "tested for everything".

The mother told the court the man went from the "pleasant face he can do" to a very angry, frightened face, and looked at her daughter with a threatening look.

He told her daughter that he still loved her, and she took from that that he was blaming her and claiming he got HIV from her.

The young woman's sister said she had gone out looking for the man when her sister was diagnosed. She told the court she was so angry and could not believe what was happening.

She said when she found him she was shouting and he acted innocently, as if she was harassing him and he was "pretending to be afraid, like he always does".

Another woman told the court she knew the man and had bumped into him at the HIV clinic in St James' Hospital in 2008/2009.

She said this was a clinic for people who had already been diagnosed. She said the man acted surprised and asked her not to tell anyone she had seen him.

Under cross-examination, she agreed she had told gardaí she met him in the clinic in 2010 but she said she believed it was before that as it was before she had started a new job in that year.

The jury has been told the man was in a relationship with two women at the same time but neither complainant knew about the other.

It is the prosecution's case that the man was diagnosed with HIV in March 2008, that he was aware of his condition and advised about practising safe sex.

The jury has now been asked to return on Friday morning to allow the court to deal with a legal issue.