A German pop star made a tearful courtroom apology Monday for keeping her HIV status a secret from her sexual partners, before being confronted by an ex-lover who contracted the virus. "I am so sorry," the 28-year-old Nadja Benaissa, dressed in a purple shirt, jeans and with her hair tied back, told the court in Darmstadt near Frankfurt.
She denied however intending to infect anyone with the virus that causes AIDS as she went on trial for grievous bodily harm. If convicted the mother-of-one faces between six months and 10 years in prison. Benaissa, a member of the all-female pop group No Angels, was arrested in April 2009 just as she was about to perform at a Frankfurt night-club. She was held in custody for 10 days before being released.
In February this year she was charged with causing bodily harm and attempting to cause bodily harm. A verdict is due on August 26. According to the charge sheet, she had unprotected sex on five occasions between 2000 and 2004 with three men and did not tell them she was infected.
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