THE Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos State has reversed the rape conviction of Lagos-based medical practitioner, Femi Olaleye.
The appellate court, in a ruling on Friday, November 29, by Olukayode Bada, a judge, held that the lower court erred in its judgment. The appeal court thereafter discharged and acquitted the doctor.
Olaleye was released after contesting his conviction and life sentence.
The ICIR reported that the Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sitting in Ikeja sentenced Olaleye, who is the medical director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, to life imprisonment for raping his wife’s niece.
The presiding judge, Rahman Oshodi, on Tuesday, October 24, found Olaleye guilty of the offence of defilement and sexual penetration of a 15-year-old girl.
It held that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt by providing evidence before the court that supported the victim’s testimonies.
The defendant, Olaleye, was charged with two counts, bordering on defilement and sexual assault by penetration of his wife’s niece, offences that he was alleged to have committed between March 2020 and November 2021.
Olaleye, who was arraigned on November 30, 2022, pleaded not guilty to the offences.
The director of public prosecutions, Babajide Martins, told the court that Olaleye committed the offence at No. 17, Layi Ogunbambi Close, Maryland, Lagos State.
According to the prosecution, the offences committed contravened Sections 137 and 261, of the criminal law of Lagos State 2015.
On November 20, Olaleye was granted bail in the sum of N50 million with two sureties and was remanded at the Ikoyi Correctional facility pending the fulfilment of his bail conditions.
While applying for bail, his lawyer, Babatunde Ogala, said that the defendant was a leading cancer care advocate, whose patients would suffer if remanded in prison during the trial.
The senior lawyer said the offences levelled against his client were not “grievous allegations like treason” that warrant a death sentence.
The court ruled that he should be granted bail and ordered that both sureties must provide evidence of tax payments to the Lagos State government in the last three years, among others.
However, on December 21, the court reviewed his bail condition and reduced the bail sum from N50 million to N40 million.
During the trial, the prosecution presented various witnesses, including the defendant’s wife, who initially reported the case to the police.
Others are an anonymous victim, a specialist in child forensics, Bisi Ajayi-Kayode, a police inspector, Esther Igbineweka, medical examiner Akinbunmi Oyebimpe, and police officer Abe Leonard.
The wife, Aderemi Olaleye, told the court that her husband had been sexually assaulting her niece while she was living with them.
She also testified that the defendant exposed the victim to pornography and engaged in oral sex with her, ultimately ejaculating in her mouth.
A reporter with the ICIR
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