Eric Aniva (right) the Malawian man who was paid to have sex with bereaved widows to exorcise evil spirits PHOTO | AFPAn HIV positive Malawian man, who said he had sex with at least 100 girls and women in traditional cleansing rituals, was sentenced Tuesday to two years in jail for “harmful practices”. “I convict you to serve 24 months’ imprisonment,” judge Innocent Nebi told Aniva in a packed courtroom in the remote southern district of Nsanje. In the first case of its kind, Aniva was found guilty on two charges on Friday after a one-day trial. Custom in some parts of southern Malawi demands that a man, known as a “hyena”, is paid to have sex with bereaved widows to exorcise evil spirits and to prevent other deaths occurring. At the request of a girl’s parents, the “hyena” is also paid to have sex with adolescent girls to mark their passage to womanhood after their first menstruation.

Source: Daily Nation November 23, 2016 07:29 UTC