A Senegalese Qur’anic teacher suspected of raping 27 of his female pupils in Touba was arrested on Monday in the central Senegalese town after several weeks on the run, a police official told AFP.
“The alleged rapist was arrested today after presenting himself to the police. After questioning, he was handed over to the gendarmerie. He had been on the run for several weeks,” the Touba police chief announced yesterday.
Touba is considered a holy city by the Mourides, a major Muslim religious brotherhood in Senegal and The Gambia.
The teacher whose age was not given and was named as Serigne Khadim Mbacké, had disappeared since the case broke a couple of months ago following a complaint from victims who produced medical certificates, the official said.
The authorities said the teacher was accused of raping 27 pupils at his school in Touba and that the alleged assaults took place over a period of time.
The police did not give further details or commented on the ages of the alleged victims but confirmed they are “minors”. The school has since been closed.
The affair broke out when one of the girls refused to return to school saying the teacher “was having sexual relations with her and all the other girls”, wrote the daily Le Jour.
The Senegalese parliament criminalised rape in 2020.
AFP
