The Medical Director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, Dr Olufemi Olaleye, has asked the Court of Appeal to set aside his conviction by the lower court over alleged defilement of a minor.
Mr Olaleye, in a notice of appeal filed by his lawyer, Dr Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, said that the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court was wrong to have relied on the evidence presented by the prosecution against him.
The court, presided over by Justice Rahman Oshodi in the charge number: ID/20289C/2022 had, on October 24, sentenced Olaleye to life imprisonment for alleged defilement of his wife’s niece said to be 16-year old.
However, in the appeal dated and filed on November 24 at the Appeal Court sitting in Lagos State, the appellant, through his lawyer, gave 35 grounds why his appeal should be allowed.
In a copy of the notice of appeal made available to journalists in Abuja on Wednesday, Ms Pinheiro argued that, “the lower court erred in law when, in the absence of any direct evidence, it held that the alleged victim of the crime was a child of 16 at the time of the offence.”
He said that the prosecution did not tender any documentary evidence in support of its case that the alleged victim of the crime was 16 years.
In proving this fact, the lawyer argued that the prosecution had the onerous duty of presenting the birth certificate of the complainant which would have served as conclusive proof of her age.
But throughout the trial, he said neither the prosecution nor the complainant put forward any documentary proof of the alleged survivor’s age, other than the oral evidence of the witnesses.
The lawyer also argued that contrary to the submission that the alleged victim was consistent in her evidence that Mr Olaleye raped her, her evidence was riddled with inconsistencies.
Mr Pinheiro said the alleged survivor never accused the appellant of rape before the police who interviewed her when the alleged events were still fresh in her mind.
He said it was only four months after the alleged incident occurred that she turned around and alleged that the appellant raped her.
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.
He argued that contrary to Oyebimpe’s finding, the examination carried out on the alleged survivor by PW5 was done months after the alleged offence was committed.
“Even though the offences were alleged to have occurred between 2020 and 2021, the medical certificate issued by PW5 clearly showed that the alleged survivor was being examined in respect of a sexual assault that occurred in March, 2022.
“In the face of this material contradiction, it was wrong of the court to have held that the evidence of PW5 corroborated that of the alleged survivor. Since the outcome of PW5’s examination did not indict the appellant, the finding of the court is erroneous and ought not to be sustained,” the lawyer said. NAN
