Femi Olaleye
Court of Appeal acquits Lagos doctor of rape, defilement
Convicted doctor, Femi Olaleye, for rape and sexual assault has been acquitted and set free by the Court of Appeal.
Dr Olaleye was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment by a Lagos High Court on a two-count charge of defilement and sexual assault by penetration of his wife’s 16-year-old niece.
Olaleye had appealed the judgement at the Court of Appeal, which on Friday discharged and acquitted him.
The Court of Appeal faulted the judgement of the lower which convicted the doctor and sentenced him to a life imprisonment.
Olaleye, the medical director of Optimal Cancer Care, was arraigned in 2022 by the Lagos State Government at the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court, in Ikeja, Lagos.
After his conviction in August 2023, his lawyer, Kemi Pihinero, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), filed an appeal in November 2023, arguing that there was no direct evidence to confirm the alleged victim’s age.
The appellant argued that there was no direct evidence to establish the alleged victim’s age, claiming the prosecution failed to