Two witnesses have testified for the prosecution in the trial of the Managing Director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, Dr. Femi Olaleye, on allegations of defilement and sexual assault of a minor at the Lagos State Sexual Offences Court sitting in Ikeja.
A medical doctor, Oyebimpe Akinkunmi and a police officer from the gender section of the Nigerian Police Force, Lagos Command, Esther Igbineweka testified before Justice Rahman Oshodi who is hearing the case.
In her testimony, Dr. Akinbunmi, who conducted a medical examination on the survivor said she found injuries consistent with repeated, forceful and blunt penetration of the 18-year-old’s vagina. She concluded that the tests showed that the girl was raped.
Akinbunmi, who told the court that she works at the family medical department of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) and the Mirabel Centre, a sexual assault referral center, testified as the fifth prosecution witness after the police officer Mrs Igbineweka who was the fourth witness.
Led in evidence by the Director of Public Prosecution, Dr. Jide Martins, Dr. Akinbunmi established herself as a medical forensic examiner who deals with survivors of sexual abuse and violence.
The doctor said the survivor (whose names are withheld to protect her identity) was presented at the Mirabel Centre on March 15, 2022 by her aunt for a medical examination upon a complaint of alleged repeated sexual abuse which she said began in March 2022.
The doctor said before the survivor was examined, she narrated the details of the sexual assault allegedly perpetrated by the defendant.
“She gave the history of the repeated sexual abuse since March 2020. She said the aunt’s husband (referring to the defendant) usually calls her in the middle of the night when others are sleeping to come downstairs. She said the aunt’s husband will remove his trousers and tell her to suck his penis. He sometimes puts his fingers in her vagina. She said he also applied something like lubricant before penetrating her vagina with the penis. She said it happened about four times after which he would give her pills after the intercourse and threatened that she would die if she told anyone”, the doctor testified.
“After the examination, the major findings were in the genital area. The hymen was angular which means ring-shaped and slightly estrogenized. There was a notch at the 9 o’clock position on the hymen and a transection at the one o’clock position at the hymen. Transection means a deep cut. The vagina wall was also unduly visible, revealing more than one-third of the lower vagina. The pattern of injury that I saw was consistent with repeated forceful penetrative injury into the vagina. It is an indication of ongoing forceful blunt penetration of the vagina. In my medical opinion, if there is a repeated penetrative forceful injury on the vagina, it would be the classical features I saw on the vagina and hymen because it has been ongoing”, said the doctor.
The doctor’s medical report and the referral letter were tendered and admitted as exhibits by the court.
During cross-examination, Babatunde Ogala, the defendant’s lawyer, asked if the survivor informed the medical expert when the alleged sexual abuse ended.
“She only said when the abuse started. She did not say when it stopped,” she responded.
Again, the senior lawyer asked whether the survivor mentioned her age during the medical examination.
“Yes. she said she was 18 years old at the time of the medical examination,” the expert said.
Mr Ogala asked how the medical expert concluded that the alleged sexual abuse was perpetrated by his client.
“There was no place I concluded that it was the defendant that committed the act. I only stated what she (survivor) told me,” the expert responded.
“You can’t say it is the defendant that committed the act,” the lawyer asked further.
In her response, Dr. Akinbunmi said she does not know who committed the alleged sexual abuse on the survivor.
The fourth prosecution witness, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO), Esther Igbeneweka, of the police gender unit in her testimony to the court said that the police received complaints in March from the defendant’s wife. She said they took statements from the survivor, their ‘gateman’ and the defendant. She also said that Dr. Olaleye denied the allegations but was detained for further investigation.
After listening to the witnesses, Justice Rahman Oshodi, adjourned to January the 26th for further hearing.
Dr Femi Olaleye of Optimal Care Cancer Foundations is facing a two-count charge of defilement and sexual assault by penetration of his wife’s 16-year-old niece.
He was arraigned by the Lagos State Government on November 30, 2022 at the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, in Ikeja area of Lagos. At his arraignment, he pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against him.
So far, the court has listened to the testimonies of 5 prosecution witnesses. The defendants wife who is the complainant testified as the first prosecution witness, the survivor testified as the second while a child care forensic expert testified as the third witness.
The investigating police officer and the medical doctor who examined the survivor have also testified as the forth and fifth witnesses.
