HIV sex crime acrobat Zaburoni faces court
A 32-year old Zimbabwean acrobat goes on trial in Australia on the 17th January after being charged with HIV sex crimes last year. Godfrey Zaburoni a circus acrobat from the Gold Coast was arrested in May after a woman tested HIV positive and filed a complaint that he knowingly infected her with the virus.
Prosecutors will accuse him of ‘grievous bodily harm and malicious acts intended to cause grievous bodily harm’. Last year authorities in Queensland launched a massive public search for over a dozen women they feared might have slept with Zaburoni without using any form of protection.
An amazing 18 people responded to the call and this included men who suspected their female partners had slept with the Zimbabwean. Zaburoni arrived in Australia from Zimbabwe in 1997 and police say he admits to having slept with many women during his time since then.
Zaburoni has worked as an acrobat in “quite a range of circuses” since he arrived in Australia. Authorities say he has given them names of 12 women across the country that he had unprotected sex with, but much of the details were insufficient to help trace his alleged victims.
Queensland chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young said seven of those women were in Queensland, with the rest in New South Wales and Victoria. She urged any women who had had unprotected sex with Zaburoni to “come forward and be tested”. Deputy Commissioner McCallum said Zaburoni, who has acquired Australian citizenship, has been HIV positive since 1997.
