LONDON, Feb 7: An Italian chef was found guilty in Scotland on Wednesday of deliberately infecting his girlfriend with the HIV virus.

Giovanni Mola, 38, was convicted of culpably and recklessly failing to tell the woman that he carried the infection and endangering her life and health between September 2003 and February 2004.

“I feel like it's murder. I know it's a bit extreme, but I'm waiting to die,” the woman told the court.

He ‘aggressively’ refused to wear a condom during sex with a woman, who was a virgin before the relationship started, the High Court in Glasgow heard.

Judge Lord Patrick Hodge told the man, who claimed to have had 200 lovers, that the indifference he had shown to his victim had been ‘deeply disturbing’.

“While you've been struck by tragedy in acquiring HIV and hepatitis C from a former girlfriend, it's deeply disturbing that you should have been prepared to show such indifference to the health and welfare of Miss X,” he said.

After being arrested over the offences, the accused went on the run back to Italy before being extradited last summer to face trial.—AFP