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The Lagos state government has made its closing argument in the trial of Femi Olaleye, managing director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation.
Olaleye is currently facing a two-count charge of defilement and sexual assault by penetration.
However, he has pleaded not guilty to the charges levelled against him by the Lagos state government.
The cancer care advocate was accused of sexually violating a minor, said to be his wife’s niece, for over 20 months.
Since November 2022, the state government has been presenting witnesses to the court to testify on the alleged rape incident.
At the resumption of the hearing on Friday, Babajide Martins, the director of public prosecution (DPP) in Lagos, told the court that the prosecution team is closing its case against the doctor.
Before the prosecution team closed its case, it had presented seven witnesses but one of them was withdrawn for being in court while another witness was testifying.
The witnesses are Aderemi Olaleye, the defendant’s wife; the alleged survivor (name withheld); Olabisi Ajayi-Kayode, a child forensic specialist; Oyebimpe Akinbunmi, a medical examiner; Esther Igbineweka, a police inspector, and Abe Leonard, a police officer.
Asked to open its defence, Babatunde Ogala, the defendant’s counsel, told the court that the defence would be filing a no-case submission.
The judge, however, adjourned the case till March 16 for the adoption of written addresses on the defendant’s no-case submission.
In legal parlance, a no-case submission is usually filed if the defendant’s counsel believes that the prosecution has not sufficiently proven the allegations and the defendant has no case to answer.
This story is published in partnership with Report for the World, a global service program that supports local public interest journalism.
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