An Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Tuesday sentenced the Medical Director of Optical Cancer Care Foundation, Dr. Olufemi Olaleye, to double life imprisonment for defiling 16-year-old wife’s niece.
Justice Rahman Oshodi held that the prosecution proved the two-count of defilement and sexual assault by penetration against Olaleye.
Oshodi said that the evidence adduced before the court against the defendant was compelling and proved beyond reasonable doubts.
According him, the confessional statement of the defendant, which he made before his lawyer, Mr. Olalekan Buruji and the DPO of Anthony Police Station that he regretted his act, proved that he committed the offences.
The judge said that the oral statement which the defendant denied, had the NBA seal of Buruji on it and his denial did not hold waters.
“You are dangerous offender and you must be ashamed,” he said.
A medical doctor, Oyebimpe Akinbunmi, had told the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court how Dr. Olaleye defiled his wife’s 16-year-old niece.
Akinbunmi, the fifth prosecution witness and a forensic expert at Mirabel Centre, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, said the defendant also gave his victim pills to swallow to prevent pregnancy.
The medical doctor, who was led in evidence by Lagos State Director of Public Prosecution, Dr Babajide Martins, said: “She (the teenager) said the defendant usually called her at night when others were asleep, to come downstairs; he would remove his trousers and ask her to perform oral sex on him.
“According to her, the defendant sometimes would put his fingers in her vagina and would tell her she would die if she tells anyone.”
Akinbunmi disclosed that a medical examination on the survivor revealed injuries consistent with repeated forceful entry and blunt penetration of the vagina.
“It is an indication of ongoing forceful blunt penetration of the vagina,” she added.
While being cross-examined by the defence counsel, Babatunde Ogala, SAN, the witness told the court that the pattern of injury she saw on the teenager was consistent with what the survivor narrated to her.
The medical doctor told the court that the survivor was already 18 years old at the time of the medical examination and she could not verify from her findings whether the bruises were caused by the defendant.
She added that she could not tell when the alleged defilement started or ended.
Earlier, the Investigative Police Officer (IPO), Inspector Esther Igbineweka, testified as the fourth prosecution witness and told the court that she took the defendant’s statement in April 2022 when he denied the allegations.
During her cross-examination, the IPO said she was aware that the defendant had also alleged in his statement that the survivor was having sexual intercourse with one Meshach who was working for the Olaleyes at the time.
She, however, said she could not investigate further on the matter because the said Meshach was nowhere to be found.
The IPO revealed that she did not view the content of a CCTV footage which the defendant presented to the police on the alleged sexual encounter between his wife’s niece and Meshach.
A child forensic interviewer, Olabisi Ajayi-Kayode, on December 3, testified before the court, saying the survivor informed her that the defendant wiped blood from her body with a tissue paper the first time he had sex with her.
Ajayi-Kayode said the survivor told her that she was introduced into serial sexual escapades by the defendant.
“The survivor said there was a day the defendant told her to prepare ‘amala’ for him, and while doing that, he took her to their study room and had sex with her,” she added.
The survivor had, on December 21, 2022, reportedly testified against the defendant in a closed hearing which was in line with the 1999 Constitution and the Administration of Criminal Justice Act as amended.
The wife of the defendant, Aderemi Fagbemi-Olaleye, on December 19, told the court that her husband was diagnosed with sex addiction.
According to The Nation, the defendant had sexually violated the wife’s niece for over 20 months while the under-age continue to bear the trauma.
In his ruling, the judge said the prosecution was able to prove counts one and two beyond reasonable doubt.
“I, therefore, feel satisfied that the prosecutor has established that (a) the prosecutory was a child by section 261 of the Child Rights Law of Lagos state 2015, the defendant had sexual intercourse with her by putting his penis in her vagina, the defendant also forced his penis into her mouth and ejaculated,” the judge ruled.
“I must conclude that the prosecution has established count one and two against the defendant beyond reasonable doubt. I, therefore, find the defendant guilty as charged.”
The judge said Olaleye must be confined to prison for a long period of time to convey that the justice system frowns at sexual violence.
The judge added that the name of the defendant should be added to the Lagos state sex offenders register.
“Femi Olaleye, I have convicted you of defilement and sexual assault by penetration. This charge has a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment,” he ruled.
“Accordingly, I sentence you to life imprisonment on count one and two. On each count, the sentencing will run concurrently.”
Credit: The Star and TheCable
