‘Hyena-man’ case moves to Blantyre, gets lawyer: Bail ruling Wednesday
Erica Aniva, a man who openly boasted to have slept with over 100 widows and under age girls, will now be tried in a magistrate court in Blantyre.
On Wednesday, he will know whether he will be on bail or not after his lawyer, Michael Goba Chipeta applied for the temporary freedom when the case retuned to the court at Nsanje magistrates court.
Senior magistrate Innocent Nebi reserved the ruling on the bail application to Wednesday, October 5.
He, however, told the packed court that the case moves to Blantyre as from October 5, citing high operations costs as the reason as he has to shuttle from Blantyre to Nsanje and back.
This means if he is not given bail, aniva, popularly known as ‘Eric the hyena’ will be remanded at a prison in Blantyre.
Two police officers on Thursday took to the witness box, giving evidence on how they arrested Aniva following his confession on BBC that he slept with widows and girls as young as 12 in a stone age ritual cleansing culture.
He has been slapped with two charges including that of practising harmful culture.
Aniva’s lawyer, Chipeta was upbeat his client would be acquitted saying most of the charges were allegedly committed before the Gender Act was enacted in 2012.
There were laughter moments in the court when some graphic details were said to illustrate the case.
