- Pix above(L-R): Dr Olufemi Olaleye and victim
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The Medical Director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, Dr Olufemi Olaleye, has asked the Court of Appeal to set aside the order of the Lagos State Special Offences Court which convicted him of rape and sentenced him to life in jail.
The state government had arraigned the doctor for defiling his wife’s 16-year-old niece.
Justice Rahman Oshodi, in his October 24 judgment, held that the prosecution proved the two charges of defilement and sexual assault by penetration against Olaleye.
Olaleye was alleged to have penetrated the victim through her sex cavity, mouth and any hole available on her.
However, in a notice of appeal sighted by News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday, Olaleye through his lawyer, Dr Kemi Pinheiro, (SAN), said the lower court was wrong to have relied on the evidence presented by the prosecution against him.
He argued that the prosecution’s case was bereft of any cogent or credible independent corroborative evidence.
Pinheiro said, “The law is trite that in cases of defilement or sexual assault of a child, the evidence of such child must be corroborated. See: James vs State of Lagos (2021) LPELR-52456 (CA); Eze vs State (2019) LPELR-47984 (CA); Aje vs State (2019) LPELR-46828 (CA).
“Such corroboration must be credible, outside and independent of the testimony of the child. The evidence of all the witnesses of the prosecution that purportedly corroborated the testimony of PW2 were all derived from PW2 herself.
According to him, the court ought to have been suspicious of the time frame between her statements to the police and the Gender Department of the police.
He further argued that the lower court ought not to have relied on the evidence of PW5, Dr Akinbunmi Oyebimpe of MIRABEL, in convicting and sentencing the appellant.
According to him, the examination carried out on the alleged survivor by PW5 was done months after the alleged offence was committed contrary to Oyebimpe’s finding./PLEASE SHARE
–Tag: Dr Olufemi Olaleye
