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I was forced to sign confessional statement – Baba Ijesha tells court
Modupe Shodeinde
Nollywood actor, James Olanrewaju, also known as Baba Ijesha, on Friday told Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Lagos State Special Offences Court in Ikeja that he made his confessional statement to the police under duress.
The defendant in the child defilement case brought against him by the Lagos State government, during his trial-within-trial, said that he signed the statement under duress.
At the resumed hearing of the matter on Friday, the defendant denied making the extra-judicial statement sought to be tendered by the prosecution through the Investigative Police Officer (IPO) Inspector, Oname Abigail.
He said he was beaten with a stick, forced to sit on the floor and to sign the statement.
He told the court that everything in the statement was dictated to the police by the complainant, Ms Damilola Adekola a.k.a Princess
He testified that, “My cloth was torn, I was forced to sit on the ground. My body was shaking. They showed me the statement, I did not volunteer the statement. I was just asked to sign it. Princess dictated everything to them.”
He further told the court that when Inspector Oname Abigail arrived Princess’ house on April 19, the day he was arrested, the complainant hid some boys who were beating him inside a room before allowing him to come inside.
Baba Ijesha said that when he was led outside, some boys again came and beat him until he was rescued by some police officers who took him on a bike to Sabo Divisional Police Headquarters and locked him up in a cell after they had removed the handcuffs on his hand.
When he was cross-examined by the prosecuting counsel, Yusuf Sule, Baba Ijesha insisted he did not volunteer the statement, insisting that the content was dictated to the police by the complainant.
He also denied knowledge of the current residence of the complainant, saying he knew only her former residence
Earlier when the matter was called, Babatunde Ogala (SAN), also a counsel to the defendant, had objected to the admissibility of the confessional statement of Baba Ijesha.
Ogala told the court that he objected to the statement being admitted as evidence against the defendant on the grounds that it was not freely given.
The council told the court that the defendant was sitting on the floor, adding that the IPO failed to sign or disclose that she recorded it contrary to provisions of the Evidence Act.
He had therefore requested for a trial-within-trial to determine the voluntariness of the document.
Baba Ijesa who was arraigned before the court on a six-count charge of indecent treatment of a child, defilement of a Child, sexual assault by penetration, attempted sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault by the Lagos state government, pleaded not guilty to the charge.
