A child specialist and forensic interviewer, Olabisi Ajayi-Kayode, has told the Lagos State Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court sitting in Ikeja, the Lagos State capital, that Doctor Femi Olaleye, told his sexual defilement victim that her virginity does not make sense as virginity is no longer in vogue.
Ajayi-Kayode said this when she appeared before the court on Tuesday to narrate her forensic interview session with the victim.
Olaleye, a Managing Director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation, was accused of defiling his wife’s 16-year-old niece.
He was arraigned before the court on two counts of defilement and sexual assault by penetration of the teenage girl for over 20 months.
But although the accused medical practitioner pleaded not guilty to the charge when it was read to him, the court in December 2022 ordered that he should be remanded at Ikoyi Correctional Centre.
Olaleye's wife, Aderemi, in December 2022 also told the court how her husband allegedly introduced her niece to pornographic content and oral sex.
During Tuesday’s hearing of the matter, TheCable reports that Ajayi-Kayode who is the Assistant Director of The Cece Yara Foundation, said the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Babajide Martins, engaged her organisation to carry out a forensic interview on the teenage girl.
She said she conducted the forensic interview on October 5, 2022, at her organisation’s office in the Gbagada area of Lagos, and the report was submitted to the DPP on October 15, 2022.
According to her, the forensic interview was monitored by representatives of the Nigeria Police Force, the DPP, the ministry of justice, and the Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency.
Ajayi-Kayode told the court that the 16-year-old victim informed her that before Olaleye started the alleged sexual abuse, he asked her if she was a virgin.
Ajayi-Kayode said, “She (referring to the survivor) was groomed into serial sexual activities by her aunt’s husband (Olaleye). The child informed me that her aunt’s husband asked her about her virginity.
“And he told the child that virginity is no longer in vogue and that as a medical doctor, he usually covers up for girls who have lost their virginity or gotten pregnant.”
When asked if she had been sexually active before Olaleye, the child specialist said the victim's response was no.
“She also said the day the aunt’s husband had penetrative sex with her, there was blood and he used tissue paper to wipe it off,” Ajayi-Kayode said.
Ajayi-Kayode further told the court that the defendant reportedly threatened to “abandon” his family members and travel out of the country if the survivor reported the rape incident to her aunt.
The forensic interviewer said, “The aunt’s husband comes at night to check if the window is closed, after which he will wake her up and ask her to come and prepare coffee for him downstairs.
“During one of the occasions, he started by touching her inappropriately, lifting her nightgown, putting his fingers into her private parts. And on other occasions, he would make her perform oral sex.
“She also informed me that he perpetrated the abused in the part of the sitting room where the CCTV camera did not cover.”
Counsel for the defendant, Babatunde Ogala, during cross-examination asked Ajayi-Kayode to explain how she came to the conclusion that Olaleye engaged the teenage girl in “serial sexual” activities.
The child specialist said she drew her conclusion based on her findings as it relates to the forensic interview with the survivor.
Asked if she spoke to a medical doctor, a psychologist, or the police before drawing her conclusion, Ajayi-Kayode responded in the negative.
After Ajayi-Kayode's testimony and the cross-examination, the presiding judge, Rahman Oshodi, adjourned the case till Wednesday to hear more testimonies from witnesses.