The 5-year prison sentence of actor Baba Ijesha has been upheld by the Lagos Court of Appeal.
Recall that the actor was sentenced to five years in jail on July 12, 2022, by Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo (retd.) of the Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court for the sexual abuse of a child.
Baba Ijesha, via his attorney Kayode Olabiran, filed an appeal of the ruling because he was not happy with it.
On Thursday, June 27, 2024, Justice Folashade Ojo delivered the decision on the appeal. She declared PW1 (Damilola Adekoya)’s evidence to be hearsay and overturned the appellant’s conviction for sexual assault of a juvenile and indecent treatment of a child between 2013 and 2014.
Judge Ojo did, however, find Adekoya’s eyewitness account of the events on April 19, 2021, plausible, highlighting the fact that Baba Ijesha had admitted to the crime in police interviews.
The appeal court additionally upheld Baba Ijesha’s jail sentence for the April 2021 incident’s sexual assault and indecent treatment of a minor, stating that the prosecution had shown its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The court ordered:
“I affirm the conviction and sentence of the appellant to 5 years imprisonment for the offence of indecent treatment of a child contrary to section 135 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2015 (count 4 of the charge).
“I also affirm the appellant’s conviction to 3 years imprisonment for sexual assault contrary to section 263 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2011 (count 5 of the information).
“The sentences for counts 4 and 5 are to run concurrently.”
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cc: Daily Post Ng
