Olanrewaju James, also known as Baba Ijesha, was given a 16-year jail term by an Ikeja-based State High Court for sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
State of Lagos v. Olanrewaju James (A.K.A Baba Ijesha) was decided by Honorable Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the State High Court of Lagos State, Ikeja Judicial Division.
According to a statement from the Lagos State Ministry of Justice’s Director of Public Affairs, Mrs. Grace Alo, the defendant was initially charged on June 24, 2021, with six counts of sexual assault: sexual assault by penetration (which occurred in 2014); indecent treatment of children; sexual assault (which occurred in 2011); indecent treatment of a child (which occurred in 2015); sexual assault (which occurred in 2015); and attempted sexual assault (which took place in 2021).
She said that the Directorate of Public Prosecutions claimed the crimes breached Sections 259, 135 and 261 of the Lagos State Criminal Law of 2011, as well as Sections 135, 263 and 262 of the Lagos State Criminal Law, 2015, respectively.
The Presiding Judge concluded that the prosecution had successfully proven the charges of sexual assault of a minor and indecent treatment of a minor against the defendant, she said, adding that the prosecution had presented six witnesses who testified against the defendant and offered various evidence to support their testimony before the court.
Her words: “Justice Taiwo, however, discharged and acquitted him of counts one and six, which were Sexual Assault by Penetration (which took place in 2014) and Attempted Sexual Assault by Penetration (which took place in 2021).”
Alo stated that the sentences are to run concurrently while informing the court that the defendant had been found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison for count 2, three years for count 3, five years for count 4, and three years for count 5. The sentences will begin to run concurrently on July 14, 2022.
Mrs. Alo further disclosed that Micheal Ogbar had been given a life sentence for rape and defiling a child by a Domestic and Sexual Violence Court in Ikeja.
She claimed that the father of the three children—ages 13, 21, and 25—had previously been charged before the honourable. On December 3, 2018, Justice Abiola Soladoye heard a one-count charge of defiling a child in violation of section 137 of the Lagos State Criminal Law 2015 and a two-count charge of rape in violation of section 258 (1) of the Lagos State Criminal Law 2011.