Uber driver accused of defiling schoolboy released

A Mombasa court has released a taxi driver who was accused of defiling a 13-year boy in his car on the way from school on Monday.

At the Shanzu Law Courts, Uber driver Fredrick Mungai did not take plea because the prosecution had prepared a defective charge sheet. The suspect was freed on Sh100,000 and ordered to plead on July 23.

The magistrate, Yusuf Shikanda, ordered the prosecution to prepare an appropriate charge.

According to the rejected charge the suspect was charged with "committing an indecent act with a child contrary to Section 11 (i) of the Sexual Offenses Act."

The prosecution contended that the alleged indecent act was committed within Bombolulu area in Nyali.

The 35-year-old suspect was arrested in Nyali after he allegedly forced a 13-year-old boy to perform an oral sex act on him when driving him home from school.

According to relatives, the suspect was arrested from his house after the boy's family made a formal complaint at Nyali Police Station on Tuesday. His family disputes the allegations and insist the father of two was framed.

But the boy's family says the suspect forced the boy into the act inside his car after picking him from school, claims police say they are investigating.

Relatives also admit that the suspect was not the victim's regular driver and had been hired for Tuesday's trip because the family's regular driver was busy elsewhere.

A woman who she was the boy's aunt told The Standard that the pupil told them that after approaching his parent's house the suspect began to grope and caress him then forced him to perform the lewd act inside the parked car.

Suspicious neighbours approached the car and forced it open causing the frightened boy to flee straight into the bathroom where he, immediately, began to clean his mouth. The victim was rushed to hospital as the driver fled and was later arrested. Some reports indicate the suspect was tracked and arrested at City Mall in Mombasa but other accounts indicate police arrested him at his house in Bombolulu.

The parents of the child made a report at Nyali Police Station when they suspected something was wrong with their child.

Police swung into action and laid a trap on the suspect while on duty in one of the popular shopping malls in Nyali. Police traced him using a cellphone signal, arrested him and took him to Nyali police station.

Early yesterday Nyali deputy police boss Ndafala Ndafala said parents of the victim were worried when their child delayed coming home.