A court docket in Nigeria has sentenced a medical director to life in prison for raping his spouse’s teenage niece.
Dr Olufemi Olaleye sexually assaulted the lady for greater than a 12 months till his spouse discovered and knowledgeable the police, the prosecutor stated.
The doctor had pleaded not responsible throughout the trial.
However a choose in a Lagos court docket stated he discovered the proof towards the doctor compelling and rejected his plea for leniency.
Olaleye was arraigned in November final 12 months on two counts of rape between December 2019 and July 2022, when the lady went to stay with their household.
Throughout the trial, the doctor’s spouse, Aderemi Olaleye, stated she found the abuse after the lady informed her aunt and the household’s driver. The lady, now aged 18, stated the doctor had been sleeping along with her and had threatened to kill her if she informed anybody, the doctor’s spouse stated.
He was additionally accused of forcing her to watch pornography.
Six witnesses – the lady, the defendant’s spouse, a medical doctor, a child-care professional and two law enforcement officials concerned in the investigations – testified in the trial.
The doctor additionally testified in his personal defence alongside his forensic doctor who faulted the medical proof introduced by the prosecution.
However whereas delivering the judgement on Tuesday, Justice Rahman Oshodi stated the proof introduced earlier than the court docket “drastically implicates” the defendant.
Justice Oshodi described the medical director of Optimum Most cancers Care Basis as a “harmful” offender who didn’t present any signal of regret.
In accordance to the choose, Olaleye’s earlier confession to the police proved that he dedicated the offences.
The choose rejected the arguments by the doctor’s authorized crew that the lady was tutored by the defendant’s spouse to lie towards him as a part of a scheme to take over his property.
“I, due to this fact, discover the defendant responsible as charged,” the choose dominated.
“This cost has a compulsory sentence of life imprisonment,” he stated.
In his plea for leniency, the doctor’s lawyer, Adebisi Oridate, requested the state to recognise Olaleye’s companies as a most cancers doctor and that he was a first-time offender.
However the choose dismissed the plea and stated that Olaleye have to be confined to the prison for a protracted time frame as proof that Nigeria’s justice system frowned at sexual violence.
He additionally ordered the title of the doctor to be added to the Lagos State intercourse offenders register.
It’s not clear if the doctor will enchantment towards the sentencing.
