An HIV positive Melbourne man was the victim of "malicious" gossip that he was intentionally spreading the virus, a court has been told. Michael John Neal, of suburban Coburg, is facing a committal hearing in Melbourne Magistrates Court on 122 charges alleging he had sex with 16 men between 2000 and 2006 when he was knowingly infected with HIV. The 48-year-old grandfather, who denies the allegations, is accused of infecting two people with HIV. One of Mr Neal's former lovers, who also has HIV positive and cannot be identified, told the court on Wednesday it was widely known Mr Neal had the virus and there was "malicious gossip" about him and rumours that "he was in the habit of intentionally infecting people with HIV". The man, a lawyer, told the court Mr Neal had been open with him about having HIV when they first met in 2001 and he had never heard him deny having the virus. The man told the court he became HIV positive in mid 2004 and around that time he told an HIV counsellor Mr Neal had wanted to infect him with HIV. At that time he said he was "traumatised and upset," and prone to depressive tendencies leading him to put an "unduly negative spin" on things. However, he told the court Mr Neal was "almost certainly" not the source of his infection, that most of the time they used condoms and when they did not he was an "informed and consenting adult". The lawyer told the court the term "bug chasers" was "a slang word used for individuals who sought to become HIV positive". He denied that he was a bug chaser, but admitted he had "fantasies" about becoming HIV positive. He said he would discuss these fantasies with Mr Neal, but they had a clear understanding that it was only talk and in reality he did not wish to be HIV positive. A man who accused Mr Neal of infecting him with HIV told the court they met on a gay website in about October 2002. The witness, who also cannot be identified, said when they first had sex they did not discuss their HIV status, but he assumed Mr Neal was HIV negative like him. About three months later he had an HIV test and the result was positive, the court heard. "I was numb and shattered. I knew that it was Mick who had given it to me as I had not had unprotected sex with anyone else around that immediate time frame," he said in a witness statement tendered to the court. He said when he then asked Mr Neal about his HIV status, he told him he was HIV positive. During cross examination by Mr Neal's lawyer, David Sexton, he admitted that he continued to have sex with Mr Neal after this and Mr Neal found him a job and a house to live in. When asked if he felt angry at Mr Neal, he replied: "No I wasn't angry, I was distressed and sad ... anger is such a pointless emotion". The hearing before Magistrate Peter Reardon continues this week. Ref: The Australian (m)