Dr. Olufemi Olaleye, the Medical Director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, has lodged an appeal against his life imprisonment sentence for defiling his wife’s niece.
Filed on November 24 at the Lagos State Court of Appeal, the appeal challenges the conviction handed down by Justice Rahman Oshodi on October 24 (charge number: ID/20289C/2022).
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Dr. Olaleye, represented by his lawyer Kemi Pinheiro, SAN, asserts that the Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court made legal errors by relying solely on the prosecution’s evidence, without affording the defendant an opportunity to present his case.
The appeal, consisting of 35 grounds, contests the lower court’s assumption of the victim’s age without proper evidence, as the prosecution failed to furnish a birth certificate. Pinheiro points out inconsistencies in the victim’s testimony and questions the reliance on a medical examination conducted months after the alleged offense.
Crucially, the defense challenges the credibility of Dr. Akinbunmi Oyebimpe, a prosecution witness, noting that the examination was performed in March 2022, while the alleged incidents were claimed to have occurred between 2020 and 2021.
Pinheiro emphasizes a potential bias and grudge held by the key prosecution witness, Olaleye’s wife. He argues that the lower court erred in relying on her testimony, underscoring the absence of corroborative evidence from independent sources.
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Seeking four reliefs from the appellate court, Pinheiro aims to set aside the lower court’s decision, overturn Olaleye’s conviction, and ultimately discharge him of the alleged offenses.