Judge berates Lagos DPP, Police over suspect of defilement

IKEJA, Lagos – Justice Abiola Soladoye of an Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court on Tuesday berated the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) and the Nigerian Police Force over the handling of the case of Afeez Balogun, a driver accused of defilement.

Balogun, a 30-year-old driver was accused of defiling a two-year-old pupil (name withheld) of Holbrook Creche Nursery and Primary School, Pedro, Gbagada, Lagos. He was acquitted following the prosecution’s failure to prove a charge of defilement proffered against him beyond reasonable doubt. Balogun had spent three-years in custody and was 27-years old when he was remanded at the Correctional Center over the allegations.

Acquitting the defendant, the judge said 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’s office as each case is being investigated. It is not enough to be handing legal advice at the conclusion of investigations. The prosecution mainly the lawyers must be actively involved in ensuring that evidence is properly gathered, meticulously evaluated and every appropriate lead is 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 have been seen to have been done,” she said.

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 and does not have any efficacy in law”.

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

Reacting to the judgment, the defence counsel, Mr Oluwole Kehinde expressed his gratitude to the verdict. “There is no cohesion between the police, lawyers and the justice ministry and the judges bear the brunt,” he said.

According to the prosecution led by Mr Olusola Soneye, the defendant, a staff Holbrook Creche Nursery and Primary School had committed the offence sometime in July 2018. Four witnesses- the minor, her mother, a medical doctor and a police officer testified for the prosecution during the trial.

The medical doctor, Dr Oyedeji Alagbe in his evidence told the court that the child was incoherent during his interactions with her. Alagbe said she 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 rather kept mentioning a “Mr Wale” as the perpetrator.