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The Lagos Divisional Court of Appeal on Friday dismissed and acquitted a Medical Director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, Dr. Olufemi Olaleye, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for defilement and sexual assault by penetration of a minor, his wife’s niece .

The Court of Appeal found that the trial court erred in convicting Dr. Olaleye based on “tainted” and “unreliable” evidence about his estranged wife, Oluremi, and the alleged survivor (names withheld).

The lower court, a sexual and domestic violence court in Lagos, had convicted Dr. Olaleye sometime in 2023 for a rape charge filed against him by the state government.

Dissatisfied with the verdict, Olaleye had filed an appeal through his counsel, Dr. Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), challenging his conviction, life imprisonment for defilement and sexual assault by penetration of a minor (his wife’s niece).
A unanimous decision by the three-judge panel of the Court of Appeal, read by Judge Jimi Bada, said there were material contradictions in the evidence gathered by the prosecution that the lower court should not have relied on.

The court said the trial court erred in allowing Dr. to convict Olaleye based on “tainted” and “unreliable” evidence about his estranged wife, Oluremi, and the alleged survivor (names withheld).

During the trial, Judge Bada also criticized the prosecution’s other evidence from a child forensic specialist, a doctor from the Mirabel Center and the investigating officer, which was found to be ‘worthless’.

In the words of the appellate judge, the judge entered the arena and interfered with the proceedings to bridge the gaping gaps in the plaintiff’s case.

The court also questions why the prosecution failed to present material witnesses, such as two family members who witnessed appellant’s alleged confession.

The court added that there should have been a trial within the trial to verify the voluntariness of the appellant’s confessional statements during his police custody, which he said he had made under duress after being held for six days.

The Court of Appeal decided all five appeals against the plaintiff and in favor of the appellant. Therefore, dismissal and acquittal of appellant.