The Court of Appeal in Lagos has upheld actor Baba Ijesha’s five-year jail term. Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo (retd.) of the Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court initially sentenced him on July 12, 2022, for sexual assault on a minor.
Baba Ijesha appealed the judgment through his counsel, Kayode Olabiran. In a ruling on Thursday, June 27, 2024, Justice Folashade Ojo set aside the appellant’s conviction for indecent treatment of a child and sexual assault from incidents allegedly occurring between 2013-2014. The court deemed the testimony of PW1 (Damilola Adekoya) as hearsay but found Adekoya’s eyewitness account of the April 19, 2021, incident credible. The court emphasized that Baba Ijesha confessed to the crime in police statements.
The appellate court affirmed Baba Ijesha’s imprisonment for indecent treatment of a child and sexual assault stemming from the April 2021 incident, concluding that the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
The court ordered: “I affirm the conviction and sentence of the appellant to 5 years imprisonment for the offence of indecent treatment of a child contrary to section 135 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2015 (count 4 of the charge).
“I also affirm the appellant’s conviction to 3 years imprisonment for sexual assault contrary to section 263 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State 2011 (count 5 of the information).
“The sentences for counts 4 and 5 are to run concurrently.”
