An HIV-positive Malawian sex worker, who says he is paid to have sex with women and children as young as 12, has been arrested.
Eric Aniva was arrested on the orders of the Malawian president after the BBC reported Aniva has sex with young girls and does not disclose he has HIV. Aniva said he has had sex with 104 women and children since 1985, though the number is likely higher.
“Harmful cultural and traditional practices cannot be accepted in this country,” a Malawi government spokesperson said in a statement. “These horrific practices although done by a few also tarnish the image of the whole nation of Malawi internationally and bring shame to us all.”
Aniva is known as a “hyena,” or a man hired to provide a sexual “cleansing” in some areas of southern Malawi as part of local traditions, the BBC reported Thursday.
He is paid to have sex with women whose husbands have just died, women who have just received abortions and teenage girls after their first menstruation to mark their passage into adulthood.
If the teenage girls refuse, diseases and other misfortunes will plague their families and villages, according to the customs.
Aniva said he knows his acts spread HIV but continues to do so anyways, the BBC reported. However, when asked if he would let his 2-year-old daughter to undergo the custom, Aniva told the BBC “Not my daughter. I cannot allow this.”
Additionally, Aniva said he would stop the practice altogether.
Since Aniva’s arrest, Malawi police have begun searching for nine other “hyenas” who have gone into hiding, the Nyasa Times reported.
A police spokesperson said he was confident they would be caught soon.
“All people involved in this malpractice should be held accountable for subjecting their children and women to this despicable evil,” the government spokesperson said.
If convicted of underage sex, Aniva could spend life in prison.
Malawi’s age of consent is 16 and has one of the highest HIV infection rates in the world. The country has recently ramped up efforts to stop these customs by banning child marriage last year and raising the marriage age from 15 to 18 years old.
