Sexual Assault: Appeal Court upholds Baba Ijesha’s 5-year conviction

The 5-year prison sentence of actor Baba Ijesha has been maintained by the Lagos Court of Appeal.

According to BETA NEWS, the actor was given a five-year prison sentence on July 12, 2022, by Judge Oluwatoyin Taiwo (retd.) of the Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offenses Court for sexually assaulting a juvenile.

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 testimony 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 child, stating that the prosecution had established its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The following was the court’s order: “I affirm the appellant’s conviction and sentence of five years in prison for the offense of indecent treatment of a child in violation of section 135 of the Lagos State 2015 Criminal Laws (count 4 of the charge).”

“I also uphold the appellant’s conviction for sexual assault in violation of section 263 of the Lagos State 2011 Criminal Laws, which carried a three-year sentence (count 5 of the information).

“Counts 4 and 5 sentences are to run simultaneously.”