Timeline Of Popular Nollywood Actor Baba Ijesha’s S*xual Assault Trial

 

It is no longer info that Olanrewaju James, a well-liked Nollywood actor, who’s populalry generally called Baba Ijesha, has been jailed.

On April 19, 2021, a video clip displaying Baba Ijesha assaulting a minor went viral on social media.

The 14-year-old is a foster daughter of actress and comedienne Damilola Adekoya (alias Princess).

On the equivalent date, Princess reported  a case of s*xual assault of  a minor to the Sabo Police Station, Yaba, Lagos State.

She suggested the police that the crime occurred at her residence.

The case was transferred to the Gender Unit of the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, Yaba, for investigation. Baba Ijesha was, thus, arrested on April 22, 2021.

The case attracted  public consideration from the time of his arraignment on June 24, 2021, until Thursday, July 14, 2022, when Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of an Ikeja Special Offences Court delivered judgment throughout the case, convicting Baba Ijesha and sentencing him to 16 consecutive years in jail which might, nonetheless, run concurrently for five years.

The felony trial  had the prosecution  workforce presenting six witnesses.

It is worthy to note that prosecution workforce was initially led by Mrs Olayinka Adeyemi, the then Lagos State Director of  Public Prosecutions (DPP). She was modified by Dr Babajide Martins, following her  appointment as a resolve throughout the Lagos State Judiciary.

Defence workforce supplied 4 witnesses along with Baba Ijesha. The actor’s  defence workforce of over 10 attorneys  was led by two Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN),  Messrs  Babatunde Ogala and Dada Awosika.

The Online News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) presents a timeline of the trial which lasted for a 12 months and three weeks and culminated in a accountable verdict in  a courtroom full of attorneys, Nollywood actors and actresses, followers and completely different sympathisers, and members of most people.

JUNE 16, 2021:

Lagos State Government arraigned Baba Ijesha sooner than a Yaba Magistrates’ Court on charges of indecent treatment of a child, defilement of a child, s*xual assault by penetration, tried s*xual assault by penetration and s*xual assault.

He pleaded not accountable to the price nevertheless was remanded in custody by Magistrate P.E. Nwaka attributable to indications that the matter was sooner than a Lagos  High Court.

Magistrate Nwaka  dominated:  “Since there are indications that the matter is earlier than the excessive court docket and the defendant will seem earlier than the court docket, no bail may be given.

“The defendant must be accorded full medical attention by the authorities pending his arraignment at the high court.”

JUNE 24, 2021

The Lagos State Government arraigned Baba Ijesha on a six-count value bordering on indecent treatment of a child, s*xual assault, tried s*xual assault by penetration and s*xual assault by penetration.

Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo granted the  actor bail throughout the sum of two million Naira with two sureties in like sum. She ordered that the actor must glorious his bail inside seven days.

Baba Ijesha was, nonetheless, launched to the  custody of his counsel, Ogala, pending  perfection of his bail.

The case was adjourned until July 26, 2021, for trial.

JULY 26, 2021

Prosecution supplied its first witness,  Princess, the foster mother of the defiled minor.

Led in proof by Adeyemi, the then DPP, Princess  narrated how Baba Ijesha first defiled her foster daughter in 2013 when the minor was seven years earlier. The witness acknowledged the first defilement occurred when Baba Ijesha paid her a go to whereas she was recuperating from an illness.

She acknowledged that the first defilement occurred when she left her condominium for roughly seven minutes to see off a buyer whereas the actor was alone alongside together with her then seven-year-old daughter who was watching cartoons.

Princess suggested the court docket docket that the minor suggested her regarding the s*xual molestation seven years after.

She testified that in order  to assemble proof and presumably catch the defendant throughout the act, she prepare a ‘sting operation’ in her dwelling.

She narrated extra how Baba Ijesha was caught in her dwelling with the assistance of Close Circuit Television (CCTV) on April 19, 2021, molesting her daughter.

JULY 27, 2021

Cross-examining Princess,  defence counsel, Awosika, submitted that the actor didn’t s*xually assault the minor throughout the CCTV footage. He argued that the  footage was scripted.

“The defendant did not at anytime move his hand toward any sensitive part of your daughter’s body. No where did he touch her boobs, slip his hands into her private part or caress any sensitive part,” Awosika acknowledged.

Responding, Princess acknowledged: “If you call her breasts, her laps, her ears and her tongue not sensitive, then I do not agree with you.” Princess moreover denied releasing the viral CCTV footage of Baba Ijesha molesting her daughter to most people.

After Princess’s cross-examination, her 14-year-old daughter gave proof. In order to protect her identification, members of most people and press had been ordered by Taiwo to vacate the courtroom.

SEPT. 28, 2021

The third prosecution witness, a childcare  educated, Mrs Olabisi Ajayi-Kayode, narrated how the actor defiled the minor. She suggested the court docket docket that  Baba Ijesha’s interactions with the minor had been the usual dynamics of child s*xual abuse and the modus operandi of perpetrators.

She acknowledged that the actor used the weapons of inculcation of secrecy, intimidation, menace or coercion.

Oct. 20, 2021

During cross-examination of Ajayi-Kayode by Ogala, a tape recording of  teen forensic interview carried out on the minor by the educated on May 15, 2021, was carried out in court docket docket. In the video, the minor suggested Ajayi-Kayode that Baba Ijesha suggested her he was her boyfriend.

The witness suggested the court docket docket that by means of the forensic interview, the minor gave a “free narrative recall” of events that transpired seven years prior to now, together with that she had requested her neutral, open-ended questions to seek out out whether or not or not she was lying or coached.

OCT. 21, 2021

A medical doctor, Dr Aniekan Makanjuola, testified that medical examinations  revealed that the minor had been defiled. “Our findings were that there was a blunt penetration of the vagina which was consistent with the client’s history,” she acknowledged.

On cross-examination by Ogala, she acknowledged she acknowledged, “The lacerations found in the genitalia were not recent, my lord,” Makanjuola acknowledged.

NOV. 5, 2021

ASP Wahab Kareem suggested the court docket docket that Baba Ijesha was coping with one different allegation of defilement of a minor.

“During our investigation, another girl (name withheld) came forward and said that the defendant assaulted her when she was 12 years old,” he acknowledged.

During cross-examination by Ogala, the  police officer admitted {{that a}} lawyer was not present when the actor gave an preliminary  assertion to the police.

NOV. 12, 2021

Prosecution counsel, Mr Yusuf Sule, suggested the court docket docket that certainly one of many remaining two prosecution witnesses was scared to testify in court docket docket.

“My lord, the primary witness is a police officer however couldn’t come to court docket at present as a result of he has been transferred and must get permission from the place he’s posted.

“The second witness could not come to court. He is jittery, he is scared to come to court,” he acknowledged.

Yusuf, nonetheless, assured the court docket docket that the witnesses will possible be obtainable by the next adjourned date.

NOV. 19, 2022

During proof by  the sixth prosecution witness, Insp Abigail Omane, defence workforce led by Ogala alleged that Baba Ijesha’s confessional assertion to the police was made beneath duress. The resolve consequently ordered a trial-within-trial to seek out out the voluntariness of the defendant’s assertion to the police.

DEC. 2, 2021

Following adoption of  written addresses throughout the trial-within-trial by the prosecution and defence, the resolve scheduled ruling on the admissibility  of the actor’s confessional assertion for Dec. 15.

DEC. 15, 2021

The resolve dominated  that Baba Ijesha’s confessional assertion to the police was admissible. Taiwo acknowledged that there was no proof sooner than the court docket docket which confirmed that the actor was tortured into giving the assertion to the police.

Following the ruling, the then DPP, Adeyemi, suggested the court docket docket that Lagos State Government had closed its case in the direction of the defendant.

A member of defence workforce, Mr Kayode Olabiran, educated the court docket docket that defence meant to file a no-case submission. The case was adjourned until Jan. 26 for adoption of the no-case submission by defence.

JAN. 26, 2022

Baba Ijesha made a U-turn, ditched plans to make a no-case submission. A member of the defence workforce, Mr A.O Alo, acknowledged,  “The defendant has decided to put in his defence, and we have decided not to file a no-case submission again.”

FEB. 17, 2022

The first defence witness, Mr Lawrence Ayeni, a graduate of mechanical engineering with experience in video manufacturing and CCTV arrange and maintenance, testified that elements of the CCTV footage had been edited. The witness claimed that the minor and the actor had been every showing out a script throughout the footage.

During cross-examination by Martins, the model new DPP, the witness admitted that tampering with the recording or using quite a few devices to file the footage couldn’t change the content material materials.

MARCH 4, 2022

Baba Ijesha took the witness stand. He suggested the court docket docket that Princess, the foster mother of the defiled minor, was his former lover. He added that he was showing a script throughout the viral video and that he and Princess had been every the directors of the manufacturing. He denied defiling the minor at Princess’s dwelling seven years earlier.

Under cross-examination, Martins requested the actor that since he claimed that the CCTV footage was part of a movie, whether or not or not it was acceptable for him to mimic the act or really s*xual assault an underage as part of showing. Baba Ijesha, in his response, acknowledged the scenes he acted with the minor had been acceptable.

MARCH 11, 2022

The third defence witness, a Clinical Psychologist, Dr Olukayode Olugbemi, suggested the court docket docket that the minor  appeared to have been tutored in her narration of what transpired. Under cross-examination by Martins, the witness admitted  that he couldn’t  be utterly certain that the  defilement didn’t happen.

APRIL 1, 2022

The fourth and supreme defence witness, a Nollywood actor, Mr Olukayode Ogunbanjo alias ‘Pastor Jerosi’, suggested the court docket docket that Baba Ijesha and Princess had been in a relationship.

Defence  closed its case and Taiwo adjourned the case until June 6 for the adoption of final written cope with.

JUNE 6, 2022

Prosecution and the defence adopted their final written addresses. Defence counsel, Awosika, in adopting his final written  cope with dated May 12, urged the court docket docket to dismiss the swimsuit and discharge the actor. Awosika argued that the CCTV footage was illegally obtained, together with that the alleged defilement seven years earlier was on no account reported to authorities. He moreover acknowledged that Baba Ijesha’s confessional assertion was made beneath duress.

In the prosecution’s written cope with dated May 31, Martins urged the court docket docket to convict the defendant. He argued that the first defence witness admitted beneath cross-examination that  content material materials of a CCTV couldn’t be manipulated. He well-known that the actor admitted by means of the trial that he on no account talked about that he was showing a script when he was detained by the police.

JULY 14, 2022

Taiwo convicted Baba Ijesha and sentenced him to 16 years imprisonment consecutively for s*xually assaulting a minor. She found him accountable on 4 of the six counts he confronted.

The resolve didn’t uncover the actor  accountable on rely one (s*xual assault by penetration) and rely six (tried s*xual assault by penetration).

The resolve sentenced Baba Ijesha to five years imprisonment on rely two (indecent treatment of a child),  three years on rely three (s*xual assault),  5 years on rely 4 (indecent treatment of a child) and three years on rely 5 (s*xual assault).

Baba Ijesha will nonetheless serve 5 years in jail on account of the sentences are to run concurrently.

“The defendant took his acting too far. The is very sad. The behaviour of the defendant is appalling, as this shows the length people can go in exhibiting the animalistic urge in them,” the resolve acknowledged whereas convicting Baba Ijesha.

On listening to the choice, the actor broke down in tears. He was  surrounded and comforted by his colleagues throughout the movie enterprise.

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Source: NAN