Defilement: Lagos urges Supreme Court to affirm conviction of medical doctor

The Lagos State Government has taken its legal battle against Dr Olufemi Olaleye, the Medical Director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, to the Supreme Court, following the Court of Appeal’s decision to overturn his conviction for defiling a 16-year-old girl.

Olaleye was sentenced to life imprisonment in October 2023 by the Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court after being found guilty of sexually assaulting his wife’s niece.

However, the Court of Appeal, Lagos Division, quashed the conviction on November 29, 2024, citing inconsistencies in the prosecution’s evidence.

Unconvinced by the appellate court’s ruling, the state government filed an appeal at the Supreme Court, urging the apex bench to reinstate the trial court’s verdict and uphold the life sentence previously handed to the medical doctor.

In response, Olaleye, through his counsel, Chief J.S. Okutepa, filed a Notice of Preliminary Objection dated September 29, 2025, seeking to strike out the appeal for lack of competence.

The Lagos State Government has, however, asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the objection, describing it as “misconceived, unfounded, and rooted in mere technicality.”

In its brief of argument, the government raised four issues for determination, one of which questions whether the age of the victim—an undisputed fact throughout the trial—could lawfully be revisited or challenged at the appellate level.

The state maintained that it had proven the charges of child defilement and sexual assault by penetration beyond reasonable doubt, insisting that the evidence presented during the trial was credible and consistent with the provisions of the law.