HAMILTON, Ont. - A man believed to be the first person in Canada convicted of murder through HIV transmission has changed his ways and is no longer a threat to the public, his lawyers argued Wednesday.

"He doesn't want to infect anyone else, he has learned his lesson," said Munyonzwe Hamalengwa, the lawyer for Johnson Aziga.

His client has learned a lot about HIV and AIDS after eight years in jail, Hamalengwa added during his closing submissions at a hearing to decide if Aziga should be classified a dangerous offender.

Aziga wants to help teach others about the disease, Hamalengwa added.

"He probably has more knowledge about HIV . . . than a lot of the scientists working in that field put together," he said.

The Crown is seeking the dangerous offender designation that could see Aziga jailed indefinitely, and has argued he has an abnormally high libido that could lead him to reoffend.

But Hamalengwa said that the designation applies to violent criminals driven by "uncontrollable hormone rage" -- not to his client.

"The dangerous offender regime is designed for violent and sexual psychopaths," he said.

"He's not a sexual psychopath, he has not been classified as a pedophile, he has not been classified as a rapist, he has not been classified as having a disease of the mind."

Aziga, a 54-year-old Ugandan immigrant and father of three, was convicted in 2009 of two counts of first-degree murder, 10 counts of aggravated sexual assault and one count of attempted aggravated sexual assault.

His convictions are related to 11 women with whom he had unprotected sex without telling them he had HIV. Seven of the women became infected, with two dying of AIDS-related cancers.

Hamalengwa said Wednesday that Aziga has promised to disclose his condition to any future sexual partners, use condoms and has responded well to medication that keeps his HIV under control.

As it stands AIDS is no longer a death sentence, Hamalengwa argued, and the infection is practically undetectable in Aziga's case.

"We have layer after layer after layer of reducing the risk to his future sex partners," he said.

Crown attorney Karen Shea has cited Aziga's estimate that he had sex with 50 to 100 women and argued that his sex drive could override his promise to disclose, because he may worry prospective partners wouldn't want to take the risk of sleeping with an HIV-positive man, even with protection.

She also argued Aziga hadn't really accepted blame for the suffering he inflicted on his victims, noting that even those women who did not contract HIV or die because they were infected were left feeling so betrayed they have had trouble forming intimate relationships.

Aziga has admitted he had unprotected sex with 11 women without disclosing his illness, but maintains he can't know for sure that he was the one who infected them. He has also said he shouldn't have been convicted of murder and accused the jury of racism.

He is appealing the murder convictions and if successful, he would be eligible for parole on the remaining convictions.

If deemed a dangerous offender, he would only be able to apply for parole after seven years, and again every two years after that. If the parole board never determines the offender is fit for release, he will stay in prison for the rest of his life.

The judge will deliver his decision on Aug. 2.