Sexual assault: Court sentences  Baba Ijesha to 16 years in prison

 

.Dismissed teacher charged with sexual assault fails to appear in court

 

Chigozie Ikpo, Abuja.

 

 

Nollywood actor, Olanrewaju Omiyinka, popularly known as  Baba Ijesha has been sentenced to 16 years imprisonment.

 

Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court today sentenced the  convicted the embattled actor of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old minor.

 

Justice Taiwo sentenced Baba Ijesha  in a two-hour judgement after a CCTV video recording allegedly showing  his relationship with the survivor  was played in court. He was thereafter  convicted  of indecent treatment of a child, sexual assault and attempted sexual assault.

 

The offences according to the Lagos State Criminal Law 2015, which stipulates life imprisonment for offenders contravene  Section 135, 137, 261, 202, 262 and 263.

 

Taiwo however  said that the prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of all the charges against him therefore  discharged and acquitted him of count one and count six, which were: sexual assault by penetration and attempted sexual assault by penetration.

 

 

The actor denied the allegations.

 

However, A dismissed teacher in Abuja, Igoche Daniel Adah charged with alleged sexual molestation before an Abuja High Court has failed to appear in court as he was among inmates that escaped from prison custody when some gunmen attacked the Kuje Correctional Centre last week.

 

Adah was ordered to be remanded at the prison custody on June 23, when he was arraigned before Justice Akeem Fashola of the Federal Territory High Court sitting in Jabi.

 

The Commissioner of Police in the FCT Command had put the dismissed teacher on trial on charges of sexual abuse related offence after he was alleged to have sexually  assaulted a Minor

 

Adah was slammed with one count charge to the effect that on April 15, 2021, he repeatedly touched the breast and other sensitive parts of a 14-year-old student of Destiny Academy, Lugbe in Abuja where he was teaching.

 

The defendant, however, pleaded not guilty to the charge punishable under section 32 of Child Rights Act.

 

At Thursday’s proceedings, the accused person was not present in court fuelling speculation that he might have escaped from Kuje prison where he has been on remand since June 23.

 

His defense counsel, led by Terka Aondo, confirmed that Adah escaped from custody during the attack.

 

He, however, claimed that the accused had returned to custody, but failed to produce him in court due to logistics hiccups.

 

Earlier, Justice Fashola admitted the suspect to N500,000 bail after spending 21 days in remand at Kuje prison on the order of the court.

 

Justice Fashola admitted him to bail in the amount with two sureties in the like sum while delivering ruling in his bail application.

 

Among other stringent conditions, Justice Fashola ordered that the accused person must produce two sureties, both of whom must be Federal Government workers and residents in the FCT.

 

In addition, the Judge held that one of two sureties must deposit his international traveling passport with the Registrar of the Court till the duration of the trial of the accused person in the criminal charge.

 

While delivering the ruling, Justice Fashola remarked that granting of bail in a criminal matter is entirely at the discretion of the Court to enable a defendant to prepare for his defence in the trial.

 

The Judge specifically held that the sexual molestation charge against the dismissed teacher was a bailable one and not a capital offence.

 

In another ruling, Justice Fashola vacated the arrest warrant earlier issued against the Defendant during the period he refused to appear in court to take his plea.

 

The Court held that having been arrested, arraigned and his plea taken on June 23, the issue of bench warrant has been overtaken by events.

 

Justice Fashola subsequently fixed October 27 2022 for trial of the defendant in the one count criminal charge filed against him by the Commissioner of Police, FCT Command