Police are holding an Uber driver who is accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy in Nyali, Mombasa.
The man, identified as Fredrick Mungai, was arrested at City Mall on Tuesday and taken to the Nyali Police Station.
Nyali deputy sub-county police commander Mr Ibrahim Dafalla said the suspect had forced the Light Academy pupil to perform oral sex on him.
He said the suspect had picked the boy from school on Monday after a request by his aunt.
“It was reported to us that before the driver could get the boy home, he stopped the vehicle and conducted the indecent act on him,” said the police boss.
The boy’s aunt had hailed the online taxi on instructions from her sister, the child’s mother.
“I was engaged at work and had to request for the Uber so that my son could get home because it was getting late. I usually pick my son from school, but whenever I am held up I call our taxi driver who was by then not around,” said the Class Eight pupil’s mother.
ENDS TRIP
She told the Nation that the Uber driver ended the trip a few metres from her house.
“The driver parked the car 50 metres away from our home, locked the car and forced my son to do the act on him,” said the mother as narrated to her by her son.
The woman said her sister got concerned when she noticed that the trip had ended yet the boy had not arrived home.
“My sister went to out to look for him and that’s when she saw the car parked by the roadside. When she approached it that’s when the boy came out and ran,” she said.
She added: “When my sister questioned the driver what was happening, the man claimed that the boy could not locate their house.”
BRUSHING
The boy ran into the house and into the bathroom to brush his teeth.
He then narrated to his mother the incident saying the driver started caressing him and asking him personal matters.
“I was shocked to hear that and I rushed my child to hospital and later reported the matter to the police. Both my son and the man were taken to a public hospital for further check-up and I thank God that my son is safe,” she said.
The mother warned fellow parents to be on the lookout and never to leave their children with strangers adding, “I have learnt the hard way”.
FATHER
Meanwhile, at the Nyali Police Station, the suspect’s wife Ms Lucy Mungai said she was shocked to hear the reason for his arrest.
Ms Mungai said her husband had been operating as an Uber driver for the last three years and his record has been clean.
“My husband is a father of two children. How could he do that? I really doubt on what he is being accused of. Would a parent do such a thing to a child that he does not even know?” she posed.
The suspect will be arraigned Wednesday at the Shanzu Law Courts.