By Juma Mboko
Detectives have reunited a minor with his mother, after she fled from captivity in Saudi Arabia, leaving the two-year-old boy under the care of his father.
This is after the 28-year-old woman escaped from the gulf country after being taken seriously ill, following months of torture by her employer.
She escaped back to the country leaving her beloved son with her husband who was equally living in dehumanizing conditions and could not stay with him.
In a heart-rending experience, the child’s father Bashir Mwarabu, was forced to hatch a plot to send the child to his mother in Kenya, since he could not take care of him under the prevailing circumstances.
An opportunity presented itself when another victim of torture Maimuna Kassim, escaped from captivity to the streets of Riyadh where according to her report, she was arrested by authorities and served a three-week sentence in Tarhil prison, before being deported back to the country on October 3, 2022.
Kassim offered to travel back with the minor but upon arrival, the Good Samaritan disappeared with the child prompting her distraught mother to file a report at Gongoni police station.
Detectives based at the Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Protection Unit in Mombasa, launched investigations into the matter and yesterday (Wednesday), the minor and the suspect were found in Mabrui, Kilifi County.
The mother and child were reunited last evening.
The minor’s mother could not hold back her tears as she reminisced the double pain and suffering she had undergone in a foreign country and the possibility of never seeing her son again.
The human trafficking victim’s passport and belongings were withheld at the recruitment agency in Saudi Arabia.
The Directorate of Criminal Investigations has asked jobseekers to be wary of corrupt employment agents sneaking out immigrants without proper documentation.
