Court Sets Free Alleged Rapist after 3 Years in Detention

Femi Ashekun/

A judge sitting in an Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court yesterday berated the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) and the police for poor handling of a defilement case against a driver.

The judge, Justice Abiola Soladoye, consequently acquitted the defendant, Afeez Balogun, 30, who was accused of defiling a two-year-old pupil.

The pupil was a student of Holbrook Creche Nursery and Primary School in Gbagada, Lagos.

The judge held that prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Balogun, who was 27 years old when he was remanded over the allegation, spent three years in custody.

Acquitting the driver, the judge held that the police did not investigate the case thoroughly before presenting it before the DPP.

She said, “The police was shoddy in investigating this case. The state prosecution service domiciled in the DPP cannot be completely exonerated of blame.

“There ought to be closer interaction with the authorities and the DPP as each case is being investigated. It is not enough to be handing legal advice at the conclusion of investigations,” the judge said.

Further, Soladoye charged that the prosecution, mainly the lawyers, must be actively involved in ensuring that evidence would be properly gathered, meticulously evaluated and every appropriate lead followed.

“Unless investigations are carried out in a painstaking, thorough manner; sloppy investigations shall continue to be the bane of this criminal justice system.

“The resultant effect is that criminals and offenders will go free; victims will be let down by the system and justice will not be seen to have been done,” she said.

Also, the judge faulted the inability of the police to conduct an identification parade as required by law to properly identify who molested the minor in the school.

She described the identification parade conducted by the school; in which the minor picked out the defendant as the perpetrator, as self-serving. The judge held that such a parade did not have any efficacy in law.

Soladoye held that the failure of the minor to identify the defendant in the dock made the prosecution’s case to “collapse like a pack of cards”. Consequently, she described the trial as a colossal waste of judicial time and resources.

Reacting to the judgment, defence counsel, Mr. Oluwole Kehinde, expressed gratitude to the court.

“There is no cohesion between the police, lawyers and the justice ministry, and the judges bear the brunt,” he said.

The prosecution led by Mr Olusola Soneye had alleged that the driver, an employee of Holbrook Creche Nursery and Primary School, committed the offence sometime in July 2018.

Four witnesses – the minor, her mother, a medical doctor and a police officer – testified for the prosecution. The doctor, Oyedeji Alagbe, told the court that the child was incoherent during his interactions with her.

Alagbe said the minor was, however, able to identify a dummy penis shown to her as what was used to defile her. The child, while testifying in court, failed to identify the defendant in court as her abuser; but kept mentioning ‘Mr Wale’ as the perpetrator of the alleged crime.

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