Lagos state government has filed a notice of appeal at the supreme court seeking to overturn the recent acquittal of Femi Olaleye, a medical doctor previously convicted of rape.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Special Offences and Domestic Violence Court sentenced Olaleye, the managing director of the Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, to life imprisonment in October 2023 for defiling and s*xually assaulting a minor.
A three-member panel at the Lagos Court of Appeal however in November, discharged and acquitted the doctor.
The appellate court ruled that the previous judgment was flawed, adding that the testimonies of Oluremi Olaleye, the defendant’s wife, and the alleged survivor as tainted and unreliable.
It further said that Oluremi was “motivated by greed and the desire to take over the appellant’s assets upon his incarceration.”
Olaleye was initially arraigned in November 2022 on charges of defilement of a minor and s*xual assault by penetration. He was accused of s*xually abusing his wife’s niece for 20 months.
Rahman Oshodi, a judge at the special offences court in October 2023, convicted the defendant and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Olaleye subsequently filed 35 grounds of appeal, and the appellate court eventually dismissed the conviction and acquitted him.
Responding to the ruling, civil rights groups petitioned Lawal Pedro, Lagos state attorney general to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court.
The notice, filed by Babajide Martins, director of public prosecutions (DPP); Adebayo Haroun, a director of Ministry of Justice; and Babajide Boye, a deputy director, along with three other counsel, challenged the decision of the court of appeal. It includes three main grounds of appeal;
Ground one: corroboration of testimony.
The Lagos government argued that the court of appeal erred in law when it disregarded Section 209(2) of the Evidence Act, 2011, and the Apex Court’s decision in Dagaya v. State.
The appeal contended that the appellate court wrongly required corroboration for the sworn evidence of the victim, despite her being over 14 years old.
It said that the appellate court’s decision to demand corroboration was in direct contradiction to the relevant legal provisions, which do not require corroboration for sworn evidence from a victim above the age of 14.
Ground two: confessional statements.
The second ground of appeal contested the court of appeal’s decision that the confessional statements of the defendant—Exhibits H, HI, and H2—were wrongly admitted by the trial court.
Lagos government argued that the trial court correctly admitted these confessional statements, as the defendant did not raise objections to their admissibility at the time they were tendered, as stipulated under Sections 28 and 29 of the Evidence Act, 2011.
Ground three: absence of key witnesses.
The third ground of appeal challenged the court of appeal’s ruling that the prosecution’s case was weakened by the failure to call two key witnesses — DPO Patricia Amadi and Aunty Tessy.
Lagos government maintained that the law does not require the prosecution to call all witnesses listed in the case.
It said the absence of these witnesses did not harm the prosecution’s case, as other testimonies, particularly from the victim and other witnesses, established the necessary elements of the offence.
The state Government noted that the absence of DPO Amadi, who was not the investigating police officer in the case, did not invalidate the prosecution’s case, as evidence from the actual investigating officer, PW6, was sufficient.
The Lagos state government is therefore seeking an order from the Supreme Court to allow the appeal court set aside its judgement delivered on November 29, 2024, and affirm the conviction and sentence of Olaleye as delivered by the trial court.
