Emmanuel Thomas l Wednesday, October 08, 2019
IKEJA, Lagos, Nigeria – Justice Ganiyu Safari of a Lagos High Court has secretly granted bail to two former students of Babcock University, Don-Chima George (25), and Olusegun Rasak(28) who allegedly drugged and raped on camera, a 24 year old lady(names withheld) at Delankaster Hotel, Lekki, Lagos contrary to well established norms among judicial officers in Lagos State.
Don-Chima George and Olusegun Rasak were refused bail by a specialised Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court presided over by Justice Abiola Soladoye in a ruling delivered April 29 based on the practice among judicial officers.
But Justice Olusegun Safari, who usually presides over land matters went against the norm and granted bail to the duo on July 31 on “new grounds” brought by the defence counsel, Ms Funmi Adeogun from the law chambers of Mr Tunji Ayanlaja (SAN) when he presided as a vacation judge.
Parents of one of the accused were alleged to have been mounting pressure on judicial officers to grant bail to the alleged offenders contrary to well established norm in Lagos State.
Justice Cybil Nwaka of a Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sitting in Ikeja had revoked bail earlier granted Adeboyega Adenekan of Chrisland School in the alleged rape of two year old girl and remanded him in prison custody based on thesame norm.
Similarly, Justice Abiola Soladoye also remanded five students of the University of Lagos (UNILAG) Moboluwaji Omowole, 19, Chuka Chukwu, 19, Peace Nwankama, 19, James Aguedu, 20 and Osemeka Josephine, 20 for allegedly defiling and gang raping a fellow student contrary to Sections 137, 138 and 140(1)(a) of the Criminal Law of Lagos 2015.
The matter involving Don-Chima George (25), and Olusegun Rasak(28) has since July been kept secret since journalists were barred from the sitting until today when the defence team brought an application to move the case from Justice Soladoye to another judge in the interest of justice. At today’s hearing, Adeogun, in a letter dated August 26, 2019 applied for a transfer of the case file from Justice Soladoye’s court.
As he puts it, the transfer is neccessary “in order to save the good trust of the courts and maintain high order of fair hearing between parties”. Reacting, Justice Soladoye said “in view of the letter, we will order the transfer of the case file to the registry for further directive from the Chief Judge.” The case has been adjourned till Nov. 26 to await directive from the Chief Judge of Lagos, Justice Kazeem Alogba.
The prosecution led by Mr Akin George had alleged that the defendants committed the offence on February 3, from 5.00a.m. to 7.00a.m. at Delankaster Hotels, Lekki Phase 1, Lagos. According to him, the complainant who is a friend with George, one of the defendants went to a nightclub with the duo and a group of friends to celebrate George’s birthday.
While at the nightclub, the defendants allegedly introduced a substance into the drink of the complainant and rendered her unconscious moments later. The prosecution alleged that they took the complainant to Delankaster hotel which is George’s father hotel, where they allegedly took turns to rape her while recording the sexual offence on camera. According to the prosecution, the offences contravene Sections 258 and 409 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
