A 47-year-old imam has been charged with sodomizing a 14-year-old schoolboy inside Mwijabu Mosque in Mvita Sub-County.

In a statement on Wednesday, May 7, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), Malau Ahmed Malau committed the offence on 28 April 2025. 

The prosecution alleges that the accused 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, having escaped his father’s custody in Moyale, arrived in Mombasa only to find his mother had traveled to Garissa. 

Stranded, he borrowed a phone to contact her and sought refuge at the Mwijabu Mosque where Malau offered the boy food and shelter while he awaited his mother’s return.

"The minor visited a local mosque, where the imam accused offered him an accommodation and food for four days while waiting for his mother’s return," the ODPP said.

The minor’s mother, alerted to her son’s escape, cut short her trip to Garissa and initiated a search. 

The mother, along with family members, located the boy at the mosque, where he recounted the harrowing ordeal inflicted by the imam.

"A search led her and other family members to the mosque, where they found her son with the imam, who narrated his ordeal in the hands of the supposedly spiritual leader," the ODPP added.

Malau pleaded not guilty before Senior Resident Magistrate David Odhiambo, who granted him a bond of Ksh500,000 with a surety of the same amount. 

The court has scheduled the matter for mention on May 27, 2025, as investigations continue.