The Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal on Friday discharged and acquitted 58-year-old medical director, Dr Olufemi Olaleye of the offence of defiling his wife’s niece.
The appellate court, in a lead judgment delivered by Justice Jimi Olukayode Bada, also nullified the life sentence imposed on Olaleye, the Medical Director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation by Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court.
The upper court in the Judgment, also supported by the two other members of the panel, Justice Abdu Dogo and Justice Mohammed Abubakar, held that there were material contradictions in the evidence gathered by the prosecution, which should not have been relied on by the lower court.
In his judgment, Justice Oshodi had held in his judgment delivered on October 24, 2023 that the evidence adduced before the court against the defendant was compelling and proven beyond reasonable doubt.
The judge had stated that the confessional statement of the defendant, which he made before his lawyer, Olalekan Buruji and the DPO of Anthony Police Station, that he regretted his act, proved that he committed the offences.
He, therefore, was found guilty of the two-count charge of defilement of a child and sexual assault by penetration brought against him by the Lagos State government.
But in its ruling, Justice Bada stated that the trial court had erred in convicting Dr. Olaleye based on the “tainted” and “unreliable” testimony of his estranged wife, Oluremi, and the alleged victim (name withheld).
The appellate court identified numerous material contradictions in the evidence presented by the prosecution, which the lower court should not have relied upon.
The appellate court also criticised aspects of the testimony from a child forensic specialist, a medical doctor from the Mirabel Centre, and the investigating officer, deeming their evidence “worthless.”
The court further held that the trial judge compromised the integrity of the proceedings by attempting to fill what it termed “the yawning gaps” in the prosecution’s case.
The Court of Appeal also questioned why the prosecution did not present important witnesses, including two family members who supposedly heard the appellant’s alleged confession.
The Justices pointed out that a trial within a trial should have been conducted to assess the voluntariness of Dr Olaleye’s confessional statements since he was in police custody, and he claimed they were made under duress after six days of detention.
The appellate court, thereby, ruled in favour of Dr. Olaleye on all five issues of appeal against the prosecution.
During the trial, the convict’s wife, Oluremi Olaleye had told the court in her testimony that her husband had been sexually abusing her niece during her stay in their house.
Mrs Olaleye, who testified from March 2020 to July 2021, claimed that the convict first introduced pornography and oral sex to the victim and then released sperm into her mouth.
The witness also stated that the girl confessed to a relative and their driver that the doctor had been sleeping with her and threatened to kill her and the witness if she told anyone.
But Dr Olaleye denied the allegation and also accused his wife of framing him up to take over his house.
He claimed that the allegation surfaced after the couple had a serious misunderstanding.
The medical doctor further told the judge that the marriage between the couple was a rocky relationship because of his wife’s alleged deceptions and an extra-marital affair.
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