A 47-year-old Mombasa-based Imam has been charged today with defilement of a 14-year-old school boy.

Senior Resident Magistrate Hon. David Odhiambo heard that Malau Ahmed 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 accused allegedly committed the offence inside Mwijabu Mosque in Mvita Sub County within Mombasa County on 28 April 2025.

He pleaded not guilty before Hon. Odhiambo, who granted Ksh 500,000 bond with a surety of a similar amount.

The Islamic cleric allegedly sodomized the minor, who had escaped from his father’s custody in Moyale to visit his mother residing in Mombasa.

On arrival, the minor borrowed a mobile phone to call his mother, who had traveled to Garissa earlier that day. 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 suspect accommodated the minor in his room located on upstairs of the mosque only to sodomize him for the four nights they stayed together.

The minor’s mother cut short her stay in Garissa after being informed of her son’s escape from Moyale to Mombasa, where he spent his school holiday.

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 matter being prosecuted by Principal Prosecution Counsel Barbara Sombo has been scheduled for mention on 27th May 2025.