In Thiès, a 20-year-old woman, mother of a two-month-old baby, endured a harrowing ordeal after being lured into a trap by a man she met on Facebook. According to the newspaper L'Observateur, her alleged perpetrator, S. Sow, who called himself "Chérif Ba," had a virtual romantic relationship with the victim before luring her to the railway city with false promises.

The Bidew Bi Hotel Trap

After several online exchanges, according to the newspaper Groupe Futurs Médias (GFM), the suspect allegedly obtained intimate videos of the young woman before convincing her to visit him, supposedly to "meet his family." The young woman accepted the invitation but warned the man that "she would not have sexual relations with him." Chérif then sent her "2,000 CFA francs via Wave as transportation costs." En route, the victim handed her phone to the taxi driver, who eventually dropped her off in front of the Bidew Bi Hotel.

Once there, the same source indicates, the suspect tricked her and led her into a bedroom. Taken aback, the young mother rejected his advances. He then "lost his temper and resorted to violence": he forced her onto the bed, raped her, and then "refused to release her and held her in the room for a long time."

How did she manage to escape?

Taking advantage of a moment of inattention, the victim managed to discreetly alert her sister by phone. Her sister arrived at the hotel with her husband. As soon as she heard her loved ones' voices, the victim managed to escape, but in her frantic flight, she tripped, collapsed to the ground, and lost consciousness. She was quickly assisted by a hotel manager who alerted the fire department.

An imposter with many faces

Following his arrest, other victims came forward to the police. The investigation revealed that S. Sow had been posing as an "administrative agent at Blaise Diagne International Airport (AIBD)." He had even allegedly tricked the parents of another victim into believing he was going to marry her before vanishing on the very day he promised to do so. In a bar in the city, he also presented himself as "Prosecutor Abdou Aziz Sow of the Thiès High Court," where he consumed beer on credit, racking up a bill of 44,400 CFA francs, according to the GFM report.

An examination of his phone revealed several intimate videos of young girls. Brought before the prosecutor, he is being prosecuted for impersonating a public official, rape, sexual blackmail, and fraud.