Aderemi Fagbemi-Olaleye, the wife of the embattled Medical Director of Optical Cancer Care Foundation, Dr. Femi Olaleye, told an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Monday that her husband confessed to having sexual intercourse with her 16-year-old niece.
Fagbemi-Olaleye said this while being led in evidence by the Director of the Lagos State Department of Public Prosecution, Dr. Babajide Martins.
Olaleye is charged with having sexual intercourse with the 16-year-old girl.
The witness, an economist and an entrepreneur, told the court that she had been married to her husband for 11 years which had produced two children aged 10 and seven years.
She also said that the survivor was a daughter to her first cousin who had been living with her since 19 December 2019 at her residence in Maryland after the demise of her grand-aunt whom she was living with.
According to her, the survivor confessed to her aunt on 27 November 2021, that the defendant had been abusing her sexually since March 2020.
She said: “My niece confessed to my aunt, ‘Aunty Theresa Osodi’ that my husband, Femi initially introduced her to pornography and from there, it graduated to oral sex which he does around 2. 00 a.m. daily while everyone is asleep.
“She said he switched off the camera so that I wouldn’t notice anything. She told my aunty that Femi would unzip his trouser, bend down her head into his penis and release it in her mouth.
“After that, she said he will say ‘thank you, my dear, I am saving for you’. This, according to her, went on from March 2020 to November 2021.
“She said the oral sex graduated to normal sex that Femi would put her on the table in the study room and have sex with her. and threatened to eliminate her and everyone in the house if she dares tell anyone about the sex escapade.
“There was a day that our family driver, Mr. Waheed Yusuf came to work and met my niece at the back of the house, beside the tap spitting out something and she told the driver that she was spitting out sperm from her mouth.
“She said she cried and confided in Yusuf who wanted to confront Femi but my niece said she held him on the leg and begged him not to tell anyone because Femi had threatened to kill her and every other person and move abroad because he has a British Passport.
The witness also told the court that her niece confessed to her aunt after her husband packed her luggage and took her to her aunt’s home after cautioning her for being unruly to her nanny.
“When Femi got back from the trip, he went to my niece’s room to pacify her. I told him it was not the right thing to do, that he would have asked me first why I chastised her but my husband yelled at me and told me to leave the room.
“He told her to pack her bags and took her to my aunt’s house who is a retired principal and a psychologist who later sat her down and confessed to her.
“My aunt called on the phone that I should not confront my husband so the following day, we set up a family meeting and my mother-in-law was present in which my niece repeatedly told everyone what Femi had been doing with her for 18 months.,” she said.
Fagbemi-Olaleye further told the court that she proceeded to lodge a complaint at Anthony Police Station after the meeting and her husband was arrested.
The witness said unknown to her, the DPO of the station was also a patient who took her children for a medical check-up at her husband’s clinic.
She said that her husband broke download in tears in the presence of his lawyer, Mr. Olalekan…. and confessed to having sexual intercourse with her niece.
“Femi broke down in tears and confessed to having sexual intercourse with my niece. The DPO recorded a video confession and written statement of him and I also took my niece to the station and her video and confessional statement was also taken.
“Femi, in one of his apology emails and text messages, told me that my niece was a blessing to him and that if she was not living with us, he would probably be sleeping with my daughter. I have this both orally and written, my lord.
“His lawyer wrote an undertaken letter which was signed by him and Femi, restraining him from coming close to the house after he was given administrative bail.
“I told my lawyer to write to the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency (DSVA) after I noticed Femi came to the residence on two occasions at night to harass us after he was granted administrative bail.
She also said that the survivor was sent to Mirabel Medical Centre for examination and she was also referred by DSVA to a psychologist whom she saw for six months,”
Olaleye’s wife further told the court that her husband had checked himself into rehab in Grace Cottage Clinic in Ilupeju after he was granted administrative bail after she reported the case at Anthony Police Station.
She said Dr. Ogunnubi, her husband’s psychologist, who attended to him at the rehab, called and confirmed to her that he was suffering from sexual addiction.
“Dr. Ogunnubi reached out and told me that Femi was diagnosed with sexual addiction and that if care is not taken, he may one day sleep with our daughter.
“The doctor told me if Femi does not complete his dosage for sex addiction, he would relapse and if allowed to roam the street, it is a great danger,”
The witness, in her evidence-in-chief, also told the court that her 10-year-old daughter told her that the survivor was not lying, adding that she saw her father undress the survivor but she could not tell her because she did not want to make her sad.
“My 10-year-old daughter said ‘I have seen my daddy undress the survivor (name withheld) before.
The witness, in her evidence, also accused her husband of giving her sleeping tablets and told the court that a medical examination is conducted on her as well.
“I did not know any of these allegations until everyone in my family knew. My lord, most nights, Femi gave me small tablets of aspirin.
“Maybe a medical examination should be conducted on me because I want to believe I must have slept my way through all these atrocities.
“There was a time we had a visitor ‘Aunt Bridget who slept in the guest room and my niece decided to sleep with her in the room.
“Unknown to Femi that we had a visitor, he tiptoed to the guest room thinking it was only my niece there and removed her wrapper.
“Bridget shouted ‘blood of Jesus’ and he apologised that he was checking up on everyone in the dead of the night,” she said.
Olaleye’s wife denied the claim that she set up her niece against her husband in the two-count charge of defilement and sexual assault, adding that she wanted the truth to prevail.
“How can I set up a 15-year-old child to destroy the father of my children? I do not have anything to gain but the truth to prevail.
“My lord, I was raised to be a confident woman. Evil is evil irrespective of who perpetrated it. I have a girl child and eight nieces. My conscience will not let me rest even if the defendant is my husband,” She said.
In a cross-examination led by the defence counsel, Mr. Babatunde Ogala (SAN), Olaleye’s wife confirmed to the court that what Dr. Ogunnubi told her that her husband was diagnosed with sex addiction and that sex life with her estranged husband was great
“Our sex life as a couple was great and I was surprised that my niece gave him oral sex because he told me he never liked oral sex.
“Anytime I want to go down, he tells me ‘ no! no! Aderemi, I am an old man’ so I am surprised that my niece gave him oral sex.
“I share the same bedroom with my husband and I go to bed at 9.00 after praying with the children, my niece inclusive because they all sleep in the same room and my husband, sometimes, says he wants to stay back and watch television,” she said.
She also told the court that she had filed for sole custody of the children before a Yaba Magistrate’s Court, adding that the joint account she shared with her husband was opened by her and she owned 90 per cent of the money in it.
The witness also denied that he requested that their house be signed off as a condition to drop the case against her husband.
“The house was signed off to our children, not to me and it was an agreement between Femi and me that the house should be put in trust until our children clock 18 years.
She further confirmed to the court that she had relocated her children to America and that they attended online classes.
The witness also said that her husband did not sign the change of ownership of their car worth N14 million when she requested for it
Justice Ramon Oshodi adjourned the case till 21 December or the continuation of trial