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An Osun State High Court sitting in Osogbo has ruled that the Alowa of Ilowa, Oba Adebukola Alli, who is facing trial for allegedly raping a female National Youth Service Corps member, has a case to answer.
Justice Oyejide Falola on Monday upheld the submission of the state counsel, Mr. Dapo Adediji, who contended that the accused had a case to answer.
But the court, however, dismissed the three other allegations of kidnap, indecent assault, and deprivation of liberty levelled against the monarch.
Falola said, “The defence presented a 10-page ‘no case submission’ on all the charges – after the prosecution made its submission. On indecent assault, the ‘victim’ who had alleged that her pants and bra were torn, later admitted that she wore the same pants and bra when she was leaving the scene of the alleged event.
“The police also failed to tender the bedspread; and the medical doctor, who testified, did not tender a medical report. There was no proof of struggle, use of force or semen stain.”
Ruling on the alleged kidnap, the judge said the NYSC member could not prove that she was kidnapped because she was relaxed in the apartment, ate and drank.
Besides, he said she did not present a call log to prove that she called some people when in distress.
Falola recalled that the defence told the court that she was a regular visitor to the monarch’s Osogbo residence, adding that a text message, “Sweetheart, stop embarrassing me,” was sent by the lady to Alli.
The judge recalled that the lady, upon interrogation by the defence, confessed to have been “deflowered over a decade ago and had sex with her friends.”
Dismissing the “no case submission,” which the monarch filed against the rape charge, the judge ruled that the court would give Alli the opportunity to clear himself of the alleged rape.
Threatening to withdraw from the case, the judge accused the prosecution and the defence of attempting to intimidate his court by engaging in extra judicial activities capable of undermining the court’s integrity.
Specifically, he said it was wrong of the state government to engage people who wore to court vests condemning rape just as he said it was wrong of the defence to rally pupils to protest the ongoing trial of the monarch.
Warning that the actions of both prosecution and defence counsel are tantamount to intimidation and invasion of the court’s powers, Falola stressed that the court would protect its integrity at all times.
Condemning the state Ministry of Women Affairs for organising some people to wear vests protesting against rape to court, the judge said the court remained unbiased.
The Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Adetoun Adegboyega, and the Special Adviser on Women Affairs, Mrs. Funmi Esho-Williams, had condemned the use of pupils to protest on behalf of the monarch.
Both had visited the school to conduct investigations on the number of Ilowa pupils at Ifelodun Grammar School, Kiloru, who stormed Osogbo to protest on behalf of Alli.
Falola said the state government should have brought its objection against the protest by the pupils to the hearing of his court because the protest occurred on the court premises.
He also said the defence should also have notified the prosecution that it had filed a motion at the Federal High Court to enforce Alli’s fundamental human rights.
The judge said Governor Rauf Aregbesola and the Attorney General, Mr. Wale Afolabi had not been indicted by the defence but the prosecution countered, saying that by filing a motion at the Federal High Court, Osogbo, the defence had cast aspersions on the integrity of the court.
Earlier, Adediji said the defence counsel would be taken up to prove the allegation that the state wanted to convict the monarch at all cost.
But the defence counsel, Mr. Taofeek Tewogbade, faulted the state government for suspending the 35 pupils, who purportedly protested against the trial of the monarch, saying the action was tantamount to intimidation and child abuse.
Culled from The Punch.
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Simply Cheska...
The monarch was dragged before the court last year April after the NYSC addressed a news conference in Osogbo, alleging that the monarch raped a corps member.
Alli, who had been remanded in prison custody, had repeatedly maintained his innocence, stressing that the sex he had with the lady was based on her consent.
The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Sunday Akere, had debunked the insinuation that the state government was interested in convicting Alli.
Akere said, “The Rauf Aregbesola administration is a product of judicial integrity. We will not interfere in the legal process and nobody should drag the government into this case.”
Falola adjourned the case to June 15, 2012, for the defence to open its case.
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