THE Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence sitting in Ikeja, has sentenced the Medical Director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, Olufemi Olaleye, 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 on two counts, bordering on defilement and sexual assault by penetration of his wife’s niece, offences which he was alleged to have committed between March 2020 and November 2021.
The convict, who was arraigned on November 30, 2022, pleaded not guilty to the offences.
The Director of Public Prosecutions Dr 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 course of the trial.
The senior lawyer said the offences levelled against his client were not “grievous allegations like treason” that warrant death sentence.
Meanwhile, 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, 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.
The witness stated that the girl had confided in a relative and their driver, disclosing that the doctor had been involved in sexual activities with her and had made threats to harm her if disclosed the harassment to anyone.
The complainant said on oath, “My lord, on November 27, 2021, my second cousin told my aunty who is my mother’s sister that since March 2020, Femi has been sexually abusing her and introduced her to pornography.
From there, he graduated to oral sex with her, that he does this in different places in the home where are were no cameras.”
Over the years, Nigerian girls have been victims of sexual harassment and molestation, with six out of every 10 children suffer from one or more forms of physical, sexual or emotional violence before the age of 18. More than 70 per cent children experience this violence repeatedly, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Usman Mustapha is a solution journalist with International Centre for Investigative Reporting. You can easily reach him via: [email protected]. He tweets @UsmanMustapha_M