A final-year student of the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education who was wrongfully arrested and detained since 2018 for allegedly defiling a minor has been freed.
The PUNCH reported that Anisere Sulaimon was recently discharged and acquitted of the defilement and sexual assault charges by an Ikeja High Court in Lagos State after spending four years in detention.
Sulaimon who was also a part-time Arabic teacher had denied the allegation of defiling a four-year-old child at the Mahadu Ridwanullah Arabic and Islamic School, Opeki, Abesan Estate, Ipaja.
He appeared before an Ikeja Magistrates’ Court on June 5, 2018, and was remanded at the Kirikiri Custodial Centre by the Magistrate, Mrs B.O. Osunsanmi pending advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions.
The suspect who was claimed to have committed the offence in 2017 by the prosecutor, Mr Ezekiel Ayorinde, had his case adjourned until July 9, 2018, before it was transferred to the High Court.
He was then arraigned before Justice Sybil Nwaka on October 9, 2019, but he pleaded not guilty to an amended two counts but the judgement suffered another delay when Justice Nwaka was elevated to the Court of Appeal.
Sulaimon whose charges were amended on October 8, 2019, to include sexual assault by penetration was then re-arraigned before Justice R. A. Oshodi on July 27, 2021.
The publication reported that the trial commenced on November 8, 2021, but on February 14, 2022, the defendant’s counsel, Mr Ahmed Adetola-Kazeem, filed a no-case submission which the court upheld.
Luck finally shone on Sulaimon when the prosecution’s lone witness, Mercy Oluranti, also testified before Justice R. A. Oshodi and revealed that the minor was defiled by her uncle, identified as Kehinde, and he has since confessed to defiling her.
The judge said, “The prosecution has not made a sufficient case to warrant the defendant being directed to put up a defence to count 1. I uphold the no-case submission in relation to this count and, therefore, accordingly discharge and acquit the defendant on this count.
“Count 2 relates to the same victim, but this time, the penetration of her private parts in a sexual manner by the defendant.”
The court observed that the witness did not witness the alleged offence, adding that like count one, “the evidence of PWI does not raise a prima facie case and there is no ground for proceeding with defence. I hold that the no-case submission succeeds. The defendant, Anisere Sulaiman, is accordingly discharged and acquitted.”
