Lagos Court told how doctor abused 15-year-old girl

A medical expert, Dr Akinbunmi Oyebimpe, on Wednesday, narrated how the Medical Director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, Dr Olufemi Olaleye, consistently abused a 15 years old girl living under his roof before a Lagos State Sexual Offences court in the continuation of the ongoing trial of the medical doctor on January 3 in the new year.

Dr Oyebimpe is a doctor in the Department of Family Medicine, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), and also works with Mirabel Center where the survivor was examined following a referral from the Gender Section of the Lagos State Police Command.

She testified as the fourth prosecution witness before Justice Ramon Oshodi as the medical doctor who examined the 15 year old girl.

In her testimony, she said the victim was referred to the centre together with a complaint of repeated sexual abuse since March 2020 by her aunt’s husband, Dr. Olaleye.

According to her, her testimony was based on the history provided by the survivor and medical examination of the victim.

She said: “The major findings were in the genital area. The hymen was angular which means ring-shaped and slightly estrogenized. There was a notch at 9 ‘O’ clock position on the hymen and transection at one ‘O’ clock position at the hymen. The vaginal was also unduly visible…more than one-third of the lower vagina. These are my findings”.

Dr Adebimpe stated further: “The pattern of injury that I saw were consistent with repeated forceful penetrative injury into the vagina”.

An ongoing forceful long penetrative injury to the vagina, was what she documented and reported to the Centre.

While being led in evidence by Dr. Babajide Martins, the Director of Public Prosecution(DPP), the witness talked about the client telling her the history of repeated sexual abuse since March 2020, the period that forceful stay at home due to the Covid-19 pandemic started in Nigeria.

The doctor informed the court, quoting the survivor, “She said he usually calls her in the middle of the night when others were sleeping to come downstairs and that he will remove his trouser and asked her to suck his penis. He sometimes also puts his finger in her vagina. Then, she said he also applied something like lubricant and he will penetrate her vagina with his penis.

“This she said happened about four times and also gave her pills and also threatened her that if she tells anyone she would die.”

During cross-examination, defence lawyer, Mr Babatunde Ogala, SAN, querying the doctor’s testimony, asked her, “How did you conclude that the defendant abused her? The witness responded that the survivor did not tell her the name of the defendant. She added that her client didn’t give the history of when the assault stopped.”

Probing her further on the timing of the sexual abuse, Dr. Oyebimpe added, “As a doctor, I can not say when it started or ended. She also noted that the pattern of injury on the victim that she saw during her medical examination was consistent, it’s repeated.”

Ogala further asked her about the disparity in the time of the incidence and when it was reported in 2022, the doctor replied, “If there is a repeated vagina injury, it would give the classical feature or sign or symptom that I saw on the vagina because it has been ongoing”.

She explained that the victim told her that the abuse started in March 2020 and continued until the time she reported.

Ogala further asked how long it takes for an injury to heal? She responded, “Healing process differs in individuals and it’s based on different factors”, adding that blood supply to the vagina is usually low, she explained that there might be some blood stains, bruises or abrasion. She however noted, “I did not mention anything fresh in my report.”

In her words: “As a forensic medical examiner on sexual assault, based on standard practice, we examined client when referred to the centre whether it’s immediately, .. that is when the client present self to the centre.

“I documented what the client told me I wasn’t there.”

Earlier, Esther Ngozi Igbineweka, an Investigative Police Officer, IPO, with Force No. 181464 of the Gender Section of the Lagos State Police Command, Headquarters, Ikeja who investigated the allledged defilement and sexual assault against the defendant said she got to know the defendant through a petition addressed to the section by the Commissioner of Police. She said the petition was written by one Mrs. Aderemi Olaleye on behalf of her niece.

Insp. Igbineweka said the survivor took her round the places where the defendant defiled her. “One of the places is in the sitting room and the study room”. The medical report was received from Mirabel dated 15th April, 2022.

“While the investigation was still on, the complainant opted to travel for a programme out of the country. Based on this, my OC Agboola, with the consent of the complainant, that the defendant be released on bail.”

She however maintained that the matter was initially reported at the Anthony Police Station but said she took statements from the complainant, the survivor, their gateman, one Waheed Yusuf and the defendant. She said she investigated and visited the scene.

“In the course of my investigation, I found out that the complainant, and the defendant are married with two kids. I also found the victim is a niece to the complainant and that she started living with them in the early 2020 during the COVID-19 and the defendant is a doctor and that the incident was not reported anywhere before the 29th of March, 2022 when the case came to my table”, she said.

“The victim did not report the case of indecent assault treatment to anybody.

“I also found out that the defendant denied all the allegations of defilement against the victim, that was all I found out, my Lord.

She insisted that the matter was reported at the Anthony Police Station according to the file that was transferred from Anthony Police Station.

Cross -examining the IPO, she reiterated that when the victim volunteered a statement, she said she was 18 years old. Ogala probed the witness on what he claimed the defendant wrote in his statement that the survivor was having sexual intercourse with one Mr. Meshach.

The officer said that “at that time of investigation, the said Meshach was no longer working with the Olaleye and I asked the complainant about the effort to contact him and she had said it proved abortive.”

Asked about a certain CCTV, IPO confirmed receipt of a CCTV but claimed that she didn’t view it.

Ogala further asked, “Did you say the girl said she was 18 in 2019 when she came to their house?

She responded, “ I asked the victim, and she told me her age and there was no way to investigate whether she was 18 or 19 in 2019 as when she came to live with them.”

Also asked if the case file was sent to the Ministry of Justice. She said , “It was the MoJ that requested for the file through the COP and the file was sent to our legal department.”

While the DPP re-examined the witness, Dr. Martins asked, “You had given evidence-In-chief that your boss CSP Agboola ordered that the case be charged to court?”

The IPO said “No, my Lord, not immediately.”

He continued, “Why was it not charged to court?”

Her words, “Because at that time that was when the complainant said she wanted to travel and there was no way I could go to Magistrate Court without the complainant.

“The case was concluded, that’s why he (that is CSP Agboola) said the matter be charged to court.

“At that point Sir, the investigation was concluded.”

Justice Oshodi further adjourned continuation of trial to January 26, 2023.

On Tuesday, the recorded video of the experiences of the 15 year-old survivor was played in court. The video recording contained in a flash drive was admitted in evidence by the trial judge, Justice Oshodi and marked Exhibit P1 alongside the report of the forensic interview and certificate of compliance.

Led in evidence by the DPP the child forensic interview expert , Mrs Olabisi Ajayi -Kayode narrated to the court how Dr Olaleye groomed the survivor into serial sexual activities and deflowered her while living with her auntie.

Mrs Ajayi-Kayode who is a Chief Forensic officer with Cece Yara Foundation, told the court that the survivor informed her that Dr Olaleye asked her, “are you still a virgin? Why are you still keeping your virginity? Virginity is no longer in vogue. Girls of 12, 13, 14 are no longer virgins.”

The child forensic expert further told the court that the survivor told her that the first time the defendant had sex with her, she experienced “sharp pain and there was blood and that he (Dr Olaleye) took tissue paper and wiped the blood”. She said when asked if anybody has ever done anything to her that she doesn’t like, that the survivor answered in the negative.

According to her, the survivor said she sleeps on the floor in the children’s room and the defendant would normally come there in the night, pretend as if making sure the windows were okay. She said he would tap her and asked her to go and prepare coffee for him.

She said it was in the course of preparing the coffee that the defendant started touching her inappropriately by fingering her private part and ordered her to perform oral sex on him.

She said whenever she attempted to resist him, the defendant would threaten her life and that of her auntie. Mrs Ajayi-Kayode told the court that the survivor informed her that the defendant normally defiled her in part of the house not covered by the Close Circuit Television (CCTV).

She said one particular day, the survivor was waiting by the security house based on the instructions of her auntie that she should not be staying alone inside the house, when the defendant arrived and ordered her inside the house. “When they got inside, he asked her to prepare ‘amala’ for him. In the process of doing this, he came into the kitchen and took her to his study and had sex with her and warned her not to tell anyone. After that, the abuses became more regular, having sex with her and sometimes, oral sex.”

Mrs Ajayi-Kayode said the survivor informed her that one day, she was washing clothes outside their house and was soliloquizing on her experience, that she was tired of the constant abuse by the doctor.

She said this was when the driver, Waheed, heard her and convinced her to narrate her experience to him and she did and pleaded with him not to tell anyone.

The child forensic interview specialist concluded: “he (Dr Olaleye) gained access to the child and use his position as husband of her auntie to gain position of sexual abuse, using coercion to maintain control and to suppress the abuse.”

Under cross examination by Mr Ogala the child forensic expert insisted that she drew her conclusion based on her interview with the survivor. She denied interacting with the police since they were part of the investigation. She insisted that the defendant serially abuse the survivor.