Malawi president orders arrest of HIV-positive ‘hyena’ who devirginised 100 teen girls

Eric Aniva, the Malawian man called “hyena,” just lost his job devirginising teen girls who had their menstruation for the first time. On Tuesday, Malawian President Peter Mutharika ordered him arrested, investigated and charged for cases of defilement.

Aniva told BBC he did not disclose his HIV-positive status to the teens whom he has sex with as part of the village’s initiation rites or cleansing practices after they have their first period. Some of the girls are as young as 12 years old.

“While we must promote positive cultural values and positive socialization of our children, the president says harmful cultural and traditional practices cannot be accepted in this country,” Mgeme Kalilani, presidential spokesman, said in a statement. Kalinani adds that Aniva would be further investigated for exposing his victims to HIV.

Likewise, Mutharika ordered the parents of the girls and the nine other hyenas to be investigated, says the spokesman. He says all people involved in the malpractice must be held accountable “for subjecting their children and women to this despicable evil.”

These horrific practices committed by a few, Kalinani points out, tarnish the image of Malawi internationally and shame the nation. In a bid to stop those practices, Mutharika banned child marriage in 2015. He raised the legal age of marriage to 18 from 15 to stop the sexual initiations.

Hyenas, in Malawi culture, are males who have sex with widows or married women who find it difficult to become pregnant. The practice is also believed to train the teen girls on how to become good wives and protect them and their families or villages from misfortune or diseases, explains Inquisitr.

Aniva had plans to stop working as a hyena, which pays him US$4 to US$10 (A$5.35 to A$13.3), but the president’s order came ahead of his plans.

VIDEO: ‘Hyena’: The man hired to have sex with children