Comic Actor Baba Ijesha Asks Appeal Court To Void Conviction

Nollywood actor Olanrewaju James, alias Baba Ijesha, on Tuesday urged the Court of Appeal to set aside the judgement of a Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, which jailed him for five years for sexually assaulting a minor.

Baba Ijesha, in his notice of appeal marked CA/LAG/CR/544/23, asked the appellate court to declare that his conviction and sentence were done in error by the lower court.

Already, the three-person panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Folasade Ojo had reserved the appeal for judgment after listening to the arguments of the appellant and the respondent.

Other members of the panel are Justice Abdullahi Bayero and Justice Paul Bassi.

Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo (now retired) had, on July 14, 2022, sentenced Baba Ijesha to five years imprisonment for sexually assaulting a minor.

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The trial judge had sentenced the convict after he was found guilty of four counts out of a six-count charge brought against him by the Lagos State government.

The state had, through the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Dr Babajide Martins, accused the convict of indecent treatment of a child, sexual assault, attempted sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault by penetration against the defendant.

While delivering judgment, Justice Taiwo held that the state failed to prove counts one and six of the charge.

He was acquitted of the offence of sexual assault by penetration, which deals with allegedly sexually assaulting the minor by penetration with his car key seven years ago and attempted sexual assault by penetration during another encounter with the minor in April 2021.

But the judge found him guilty and convicted him of indecent treatment of a child and sexual assault of a minor between 2013 and 2014.

But dissatisfied with the verdict, Baba Ijesha, through his counsel, Mr Kayode Olabiran, argued that the prosecution could not prove that the convict sexually assaulted the victim.

Olabiran said, “The charge itself is centred on the defilement of a minor, but the prosecution couldn’t prove the age of the victim.

“The Appellant was set up. The Appellant is an actor. He acted in a script that he was invited to act by his colleague (PW1), Damilola Adekoya.

“(PW1) Damilola Adekoya asked the Appellant to come and act a script. In the statement of PW1, at Panti Police Station, unknowingly to the appellant, there was a CCTV in the sitting room.

“Whatever we watched in that movie was a script by the producer, and the prosecution tendered the video of the scene of the acting.

“Based on his confessional statement, as at the day of the arrest, he was under duress, and there were so many people who were beating him that was when he confessed to the offence,” he said.

Olabiran, however, urged the court to allow the appeal and set aside the judgment of the lower court, delivered on July 14, 2022.

The DPP, responding, urged the court to dismiss the appeal, saying it lacked merit and described it as a misconception.

Martin also urged the court to affirm the judgment of the lower court delivered on July 14, 2022, which convicted Baba Ijesha of indecent treatment of a child and sexual assault.

On the age of the victim, Martin submitted that the victim said she was born on October 6, 2006, which puts her age at 14, in 2013, when the offence was committed.

“At the time she gave evidence in 2021, she was 17 years old, which still makes her a child,” the lawyer stated.