Justice Rahman Oshodi of the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Tuesday sentenced the Medical Director of Optical Cancer Care Foundation, Dr. Olufemi Olaleye, to life imprisonment for defiling his wife’s 16-year-old niece.
Justice Oshodi held that the prosecution proved the two-count of defilement and sexual assault by penetration against Olaleye.
The judge held that the evidence adduced before the court against the defendant was compelling and proved beyond reasonable doubts.
Olaleye was charged with two-count charges bordering on the defilement of a child and sexual assault by penetration preferred against him by the Lagos State government.
The defendant was said to have committed the offence sometime between February 2020 and November 2021
The offence allegedly took place at No 17, Layi Ogunbambi close, Maryland, Lagos state.
The alleged offences contravened Sections 137 and 261 of the criminal law of Lagos State 2015.
However, delivering judgement on Tuesday, Justice Oshodi held the confessional statement of the defendant which he made before his former counsel, Mr. Olalekan Buruji and the DPO of Anthony Police Station, when he stated that he regretted his action, proved that he committed the offences.
The judge held that the defendant denying an undertaking made at the police station did not hold waters, the court held that the document had his counsel, Buruji NBA seal on it.
“The defendant is a dangerous offender who should be ashamed of himself as he did not show any sign of remorse. The convict began to groom the survivor during the Covid-19 lockdown. The survivor, to your knowledge, was a child but you forced her to watch pornography, rub her breast, and put your penis in her mouth.
“You penetrated her and there was blood in which you did it repeatedly. You acknowledged that you are a sex addict in your confession but came to this court and told lies. You showed no remorse, and it shows that you are a dangerous man to the society, who should be locked away from the people.”
Justice Oshodi thereafter found him guilty as charged, sentenced him to life imprisonment each on the two counts which he said would run concurrently.
In his plea for mercy, the convict’s counsel, Mr. Adebisi Oridate urged the court to temper justice with mercy.
He stated that the convict was a first time offender who offered public service and had cancer patients to care for.
He said the convict is a medical doctor who offers services to people that suffer from cancer-related ailments, especially women from Lagos State and Nigeria.
“The state recognised his services, and the defendant has lost his business because he has been incarcerated from his family. He has lost his means of livelihood, and he has an aged mother who is solely dependent on him but we pray your lordship to temper justice with mercy.”
In his response, the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Dr. Babajide Martins prayed the court to sentence him on a mandatory sentencing as maintained by the law of Lagos State.
“We urge the court to give the convict a mandatory sentence and also have his name registered in the sexual offences register as maintained by Lagos State”, he added.
The judge therefore sentenced the convict and held “by the laws of Lagos State, I am compelled to hand you a sentence of life imprisonment on each count of your offense.
“Your defence counsel has said that you are a first-time offender and that you are a doctor of cancer patients who is in partner with Lagos State.
“I hereby sentence you to life imprisonment on both counts one and two of defilement and sexual assault by penetration, which should run concurrently. The convict’s name should registered in the Sexual Offences Register as maintained by Lagos State Government.”
During trial, 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.
Also, 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.
Wale Igbintade
Follow us on:
