diff --git a/evdev/uinput.py b/evdev/uinput.py
index 756f83c..2c6b980 100644
--- a/evdev/uinput.py
+++ b/evdev/uinput.py
@@ -268,13 +268,11 @@ def _verify(self):
         Verify that an uinput device exists and is readable and writable
         by the current process.
         """
-
         try:
             m = os.stat(self.devnode)[stat.ST_MODE]
-            if not stat.S_ISCHR(m):
-                raise OSError
-        except (IndexError, OSError):
-            msg = '"{}" does not exist or is not a character device file ' "- verify that the uinput module is loaded"
+            assert stat.S_ISCHR(m)
+        except (IndexError, OSError, AssertionError):
+            msg = '"{}" does not exist or is not a character device file - verify that the uinput module is loaded'
             raise UInputError(msg.format(self.devnode))
 
         if not os.access(self.devnode, os.W_OK):
diff --git a/tests/test_uinput.py b/tests/test_uinput.py
index dcd09e0..666361f 100644
--- a/tests/test_uinput.py
+++ b/tests/test_uinput.py
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 # encoding: utf-8
+import os
 import stat
 from select import select
 from unittest.mock import patch
@@ -119,6 +120,18 @@ def test_write(c):
 
 
 @patch.object(stat, 'S_ISCHR', return_value=False)
-def test_not_a_character_device(c):
-    with pytest.raises(UInputError):
+def test_not_a_character_device(ischr_mock, c):
+    with pytest.raises(UInputError, match='not a character device file'):
+        uinput.UInput(**c)
+
+@patch.object(stat, 'S_ISCHR', return_value=True)
+@patch.object(os, 'stat', side_effect=OSError())
+def test_not_a_character_device_2(stat_mock, ischr_mock, c):
+    with pytest.raises(UInputError, match='not a character device file'):
+        uinput.UInput(**c)
+
+@patch.object(stat, 'S_ISCHR', return_value=True)
+@patch.object(os, 'stat', return_value=[])
+def test_not_a_character_device_3(stat_mock, ischr_mock, c):
+    with pytest.raises(UInputError, match='not a character device file'):
         uinput.UInput(**c)