A NORTH-East teenager was kept captive by an African asylum seeker who infected her with the HIV virus after they had unprotected sex, a court heard.

Musician Feston Konzani slept with the girl when she was only 15 after approaching her in a Middlesbrough street. Konzani asked her to move in with him weeks later.

The girl told Teesside Crown Court that the 28-year-old took her virginity and had sex with her on a daily basis for up to a month.

The teenager, now 18, told the jury through a live video link she was only able to speak with her friends through a window.

She said the relationship had been fine to begin with but Mr Konzani changed and he kept her locked in the house they shared. She later fled after climbing through a kitchen window.

The girl, known as Miss Y, said: "I just wanted to go home to my mum and I climbed out of the kitchen window and never went back to his house.

"I saw him a couple of times after that in the street but every time I saw him I ran."

Breaking down in tears, she said she discovered she was HIV positive after taking a pregnancy test during another relationship.

She began harming herself shortly afterwards as a way of coping.

Miss Y said: "I was cutting my arms because it took away the anger and pain."

When asked how she felt when she found out she had the virus she said: "I just fell to the ground and started crying. I wanted to die."

Mr Konzani, of Albany Street, Middlesbrough is accused of infecting four women, aged from 15 to 37, between November 2000 and August 2003.

A mother-of-one, known as Miss W, of Tyne and Wear said she began a relationship with the defendant after meeting him through voluntary work.

The 26-year-old started dating the musician in January 2003 but it ended seven months later when Mr Konzani began drinking heavily.

She discovered she was HIV positive after the defendant was arrested and she went to the doctors for a blood test.

She told the court: "I freaked out. You can't express it. It was devastating. I should have been the one who chose when I died not him."

Miss W said she was now unable to lead a normal life or to have relationships.

She said: "My life is gone. If someone has got HIV I would expect them to tell me in the same way I would tell them."

Trial judge Peter Fox QC made an order under the Contempt of Court Act to protect the identity of the four women involved in the proceedings.

The hearing was adjourned until Tuesday.