The mother of an 11-year-old Kahuku boy said yesterday that her son was abused several days in a row last week by a school bus driver and the driver's aide.

Sherry Martinez said she first noticed something was wrong with her son when she picked him up after school on Dec. 6.

"He had this gummy residue on his chin and cheeks, from one ear to the other ear," Martinez said. "I asked him what happened and he said the driver duct-taped his mouth. He said he was singing and the driver told him to shut up and when he kept singing, the driver put the duct tape on him."

Martinez said her son told her the tape ran all the way around his head and that some of his hair was pulled loose when the tape was removed.

Martinez said she notified school officials about the incident and filed a formal complaint with the school.

A Department of Education official has said the department is investigating the allegations, and DOE officials also are requesting that the private bus company open its own investigation.

The mother said the following day, her son told her the driver pulled his ear and swore at him on the bus ride to school. And the day after that, she got a call from school officials asking her to come to the school.

"They told me there had been another incident on the bus and that I should come to the school," she said. "They said there had been some bruising and that he had some other marks on him."

Martinez said her son has attention deficit disorder, is about 5 feet tall, weighs 85 or 90 pounds and wears glasses.

She said the boy has never had problems before.

After she went to Ka'a'awa Elementary School Thursday to check on her son, Martinez decided to file a police report.

Police verified that a report was filed and said it will be forwarded to the prosecutor's office along with a statement from the driver giving his side of the story. Police said it will then be up to prosecutors to decide whether to bring charges against the driver.

Last night, a woman who answered the phone at Kailua Local Taxi & Windward Bus Service said all questions would have to be answered today by the company's attorney. The woman, who would not give her name, declined to identify the attorney.

Martinez said the incidents have left her son and another boy who witnessed the incidents badly shaken.

"He's afraid to go outside at night; he's afraid of all of the bus drivers now and he's afraid of the police," she said.

Martinez said the bus her son was riding is used exclusively for special-needs students. She estimated the ride to school each morning from Kahuku to Ka'a'awa takes about half an hour.

Martinez said she plans to take her son to school each day to protect him against further incidents.

"I'm not a public school advocate, but I have to commend the Ka'a'awa Elementary officials for the way they have helped me with this situation," Martinez said. She said school officials helped document what was happening to her son, gave her copies of the various reports she filed and helped her contact police to file a complaint against the driver, who she said lives two streets away from her in the same Kahuku housing complex.

"This was a special-ed driver and a special-ed aide hired to transport special-ed children. What they did was inexcusable," Martinez said.

The aide is no longer with the bus company, the DOE official said.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com.