Businessman accused of sodomising 12-year-old maid disappears from prison, case removed from court records

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Members of the Advocates for Children and Vulnerable Persons Network and DOHS Cares Foundation, both

Non Governmental Organisations with an interest in the protection of children, have accused some operatives of the Lagos Police State Command and officials of the Lagos State Judiciary of working together to free a businessman, Uche James, accused of sodomising his maid.

They also said operatives of Bariga Police Station convinced the maid’s father, Apostle Ifeanyi, to withdraw the case.

This, the NGOs alleged, the policemen under the Lagos State Police Command did by making Ifeanyi swear to an affidavit that he was withdrawing the case.

Ifeanyi was alleged to have sworn to the affidavit, collected money from the accused and then returned to his village in Abia State with the victim.

However, it was not Apostle Ifeanyi who reported the case, but some concerned women and child rights advocates.

Since then, drama and intrigue have continued to dog the case.

James, who was remanded in prison custody pending advice from the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecution, has simply disappeared from the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison in Lagos, where he was ordered remanded.

According to the activists who have been following the case, James was granted bail by a Lagos State High Court, but strangely the court has no such case on its listing.

There is also no defendant known as Uche James on its listing.

However, James, a businessman, who sells materials at the Yaba Market in Lagos State, was listed in the Magistrate Court, Ogba, where he was initially arraigned before being remanded.

The court is not aware that James was granted bail and removed from prison custody.

The Executive Director of DOHS Cares Foundation, Ololade Ajayi, who is also a member of the ACVPN, believes the shenanigans emanated from the Ikeja Gender Unit of the Lagos State Police Command.

Ajayi is now alleging a miscarriage of justice for the victim, describing James as an alleged serial paedophile.

She also opined that the police were trying to deny the 12-year-old victim justice.

According to her, James went to his village in Abia State last year on the grounds of needing a maid and brought the victim to Lagos.

Ajayi said: “He then proceeded to rape and sodomised her every night in his home in Lagos.

“A neighbour, Chiamaka, whom the girl cried to, reported the case at the police station and the child was then returned to her parents.

“The case was transferred to Gender Unit, State Command, Ikeja and charged to Ogba Magistrate Court 10, but somehow in the space of a few months, the man has been released.

“The father of the child was (allegedly) given a sum of N300,000 by the perpetrator, after which the father of the girl went to swear an affidavit, stating that he wanted to withdraw the case.

“In fact, this is a case of sexual abuse by both penetration and sodomising of a 12-year-old girl repeatedly by Uche James.

“It was reported at Bariga Police Station, Somolu and the perpetrator was arrested and transferred to the Ikeja Gender Unit Command

“Our investigation has shown that the case was not transferred to the Special Offences and Sexual Offences Court, GRA, Ikeja from the Magistrate Court 3 overseen by Magistrate Kubenji of Sam Ilori Court, Ogba.

“Further investigation revealed that the Investigating Police Officer, a woman Assistant Superintendent of Police, Eyo, and others conspired and got Uche James released from Kirikiri Maximum while DPP advice already issued its advice that Uche James has a case to answer due to overwhelming evidence provided.”

Ajayi narrated that just to be sure that James was out of prison on bail, she and other child rights activists disguised themselves and went to his shop, pretending they wanted to buy some clothing materials.

She said: “It was Uche James himself that attended to us!

“We must get justice for the victim and set the record straight that paedophiles such as Uche James must be taken out of society and kept where they truly belong.”

It was also gathered that James started his abuse of the child on their way to Lagos State from Abia State hours after he collected her from her parents.

He was said to have stopped on the way to Lagos, lodged in a hotel and then had his first carnal knowledge of the child.

This was the testimony of the child to her rescuers.

The reason for James being granted bail and the giving of money to the victim’s father over a capital offence was yet unknown as at press time.

Our reporter, however, got a hold of the Affidavit sworn to by the victim’s father at the Chief Magistrates Court, Yaba, Lagos State, dated June 16, 2023.

The Affidavit reads in part: “I am the complainant in the case of the defilement against one Uche James and the case reported at Bariga Police State, Lagos State.

“I hereby intend to withdraw the case against Uche James.

“The case has been settled amicably between the parties and I am no longer interested in prosecuting this matter and I want the case to be withdrawn from Bariga Station.”

Ajayi said it was not Ifeanyi who reported the case to the Bariga Division.

She explained that Ifeanyi was called by the police while he was in the village, and he rushed down from Abia State to Lagos State.

Our reporter learnt that when the father got to the station and saw James, he attacked him, but the police intervened.

It was also alleged that it was at Bariga Police Station that Ifeanyi was sold the idea of getting an Affidavit to withdraw the case in order to have an amicable settlement with the suspect.

Ajayi said: “The child herself was rolling on the ground at the station, crying that she needed justice, that she had suffered too much at the hands of Uche James and his wife.

“The truth is that aside from the rape of the child, she was also being physically abused by the suspect’s wife.

“The child’s body was covered with scars.

“The child’s anus and vagina are damaged.”

James reportedly told the police that the concerned neighbours, who reported the case at the station, were falsely accusing him because he rebuffed their sexual advances.

It is instructive to point out that the DPP, in a document sighted by our reporter, addressed to the Officer-in-Charge of Gender Section, Lagos State Police Command, signed by M.A. Olateju, Deputy Director, titled: “Legal Advice, Commissioner Of Police Versus Uchechukwu James,” said the alleged perpetrator has a case to answer.

The document reads in part: “I am directed to acknowledge receipt of your letter with reference number AR:3000/LS/DFA/GENT/T.A./VOL.2, dated 25th July 2023 and the accompanying duplicate case file forwarded to this office for Legal Advice.

“After carefully considering the facts available in the duplicate case file, this office is of the opinion that there are sufficient facts to establish the offence of Defilement contrary to Section 137 of the Criminal Law cap. C, 17, Vol.3, Laws of Lagos State, 2015 against Uchechukwu James.

“Facts in the duplicate case file reveal that the 14-year-old victim was taken from the village by Uchechukwu James on the account that she would be helping out as a maid.

“According to the victim, Uchechukwu James had been having intercourse with her since the very day he took her from the village while they lodged at a hotel in the east, and he also had sexual intercourse with her while she slept in his sitting room at night at his apartment here in Lagos.”

Olateju further stated that the offence of defilement is provided for pursuant to Section 137 of the Criminal Law, Ch. C17, Vol. 3 Laws of Lagos State, 2015.

To prove the offence of defilement of the child, the prosecution must establish the following: that the child is underage, that the accused had sexual intercourse with the child and that the consent of the child was immaterial.

According to Olateju, although James denied defiling the victim, the available medical report indicated a recent penetration of the vaginal and anus.

He therefore stressed: “The evidence of the complainant and that of the victim coupled with the medical report in the case file is cogent, direct and unequivocal and are enough to prosecute Uchechukwu James.

“In light of  the foregoing, this office shall prosecute Uchechukwu James for the offence of Defilement of a child contrary to Section 137 of the Criminal Law Cap c.17, Vol. 3, Laws of Lagos State, 2015.”

The Co-founder of ACVPN, Ebenezer M. Omejalile, furious at the unfolding drama, said the Affidavit of the victim’s father was dead on arrival.

Omejalile said: “This Affidavit is dead on arrival!

“The case in question is a crime against the world, national and state of domicile.

“Cases of rape and defilement are not ‘withdrawable’ anywhere in the world.

“Let me remind you that there is a Directorate of Public Prosecution Advice, Lagos State Criminal Code Section 137 from the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Ikeja, Alausa Secretariat that the alleged perpetrator has a case to answer based on damning evidence and statement obtained from the victim and medical test conducted.

“It was due to complaints by ACVPN and other platforms that cases of Defilement and Rape are not channelled appropriately to the right court for arraignment and further trial to the High Court, that the Lagos State Ministry of Justice established Court 2 and Court 3, which are the two courts saddled with the responsibility to entertain cases of Rape and Defilement.

“Court 10 has no locus standi as far as this case is concerned.

“It was a calculated attempt to truncate justice, thinking nobody would rise to challenge the process.

“This is an outright killing of justice between the said IPO in Gender Unit Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja and the prosecutor and prison warder.”