A man with HIV was jailed for ten years yesterday for not telling his "mentally challenged'' sexual partner he had the virus.

Father-of-five Ronald Kirkland Mapp, 37, pleaded guilty to sexual assault, even though Supreme Court heard both partners agreed to have sex.

But Mapp, of Cedar Avenue, Pembroke, had already carried HIV for ten years when he became intimate with the 43-year-old woman at his home last September.

And Crown counsel Charlene Scott described how Mapp did not reveal his HIV infection to the woman, telling investigating Police: "Why should I?'' The court heard the victim had not tested positive for HIV, the sexually-transmitted virus which can cause the deadly disease AIDS.

But Ms Scott said HIV did not automatically show up in tests in the first six months.

She also said the victim was mentally challenged.

HIV-infected man sent to jail And she described Mapp -- whom she knew as "Quinfield'' -- as "someone I could trust... someone I could depend on''.

The prosecutor also said the woman asked Mapp if he had AIDS, and he said: "No, I ain't got AIDS or no other diseases.'' Ms Scott added: "The fact that he knew otherwise could be treated as an aggravating factor. The defendant didn't tell the complainant that he was HIV positive.'' She also said the victim told Police she asked Mapp to "use protection'', but he said he would not wear a condom "for no woman''.

Mapp insisted he did use a condom during sex.

His lawyer, Victoria Pearman, told the judge: "My client is not a monster and doesn't deserve to be crushed.

"Whilst his behaviour isn't commendable, it could have been a whole lot worse.

"It's no good reeling off past cases about deliberately infecting people and throwing them down and raping them.

"We have a serious case because he ought to have told her. There's no real excuse for that and for that he should be punished. But the punishment must fit the crime.'' She said Police found a packet of condoms when they searched Mapp's home on September 25.

She added: "If he doesn't like to use condoms, why were they there? "My client has been a survivor of this virus for some time. In fact, the complainant is a relative of the mother of his children.

"Everybody in Bermuda knows what he has. In fact, some years ago, counsel presented it as a mitigating factor and it was printed in The Royal Gazette .'' He was said by his lawyer to be "too nervous'' to address Chief Justice Austin Ward in court.

Instead, he handed the judge a handwritten note as part of his plea for a lenient sentence. But Mr. Justice Ward said: "I have to bear in mind the protection of society.'' The court heard Mapp had a long list of previous convictions, going back to 1978.