By Elizabeth Mumbi
A 47-year-old imam has been charged with sodomizing a 14-year-old schoolboy inside Mwijabu Mosque in Mvita sub-county.
According to a statement by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) on Wednesday, May 7, Malau Ahmed Malau committed the offense on April 28, 2025.
The prosecution alleges that Malau exploited the vulnerability of the minor, who had traveled from Moyale to Mombasa to visit his mother during a school holiday.
The court heard that the boy escaped his father’s custody in Moyale and arrived in Mombasa, only to find his mother had traveled to Garissa.
Stranded, he borrowed a phone to contact her and sought refuge at Mwijabu Mosque, where Malau offered him food and shelter while he awaited his mother’s return.
“The minor visited a local mosque, where the imam offered him accommodation and food for four days while waiting for his mother,” the ODPP said. The suspect housed the boy in his room upstairs in the mosque and sodomized him over the four nights they stayed together.
After the boy’s mother was alerted to his escape, she cut short her stay in Garissa and began searching for him.
A search led her and other family members to the mosque, where they found her son with the imam, who recounted his ordeal at the hands of the supposed spiritual leader, the ODPP added.
Senior Resident Magistrate Hon. David Odhiambo stated that Malau committed the act of defilement contrary to section 8(1) as read with section 8(3) of the Sexual Offences Act No. 3 of 2006. The case, prosecuted by Principal Prosecution Counsel Barbara Sombo, is scheduled for mention on May 27, 2025.
