New York, Mar 8 (IANS): Indian American student Dharun Ravi apparently tried to make amends with his estranged roommate after spying his sexual encounter with another man with a webcam, according to text messages revealed in court.

Former Rutgers New Jersey State University student Tyler Clementi committed suicide soon after the texts were sent. It is not clear if Clementi ever received the messages, a New Jersey court was told Wednesday.

"I've known you were gay and I have no problem with it," read messages sent by Ravi, according to authorities. Ravi apparently sent the messages after he learned that Clementi had requested a room change.

They were sent Sep 22, 2010, the same night Clementi took his own life by leaping from the George Washington Bridge, which spans the Hudson River between New York and New Jersey.

Prosecutors have said Ravi and another student placed the camera in the dormitory room without Clementi's knowledge to spy and humiliate him because he was gay.

Ravi's lawyer, Steve Altman, has said his client had switched on the webcam to monitor his personal items because he did not trust his roommate's visitor.

The mystery visitor, identified only as M.B., testified last week that after one encounter he "could hear people talking in the courtyard. People joking, people laughing."

Ravi, 20, now faces a 15-count indictment in Clementi's death that includes charges of bias intimidation and invasion of privacy. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years in prison.