The wife of a Lagos medical doctor, Femi Olaleye, who was accused of rape has told the court how he allegedly gave her sleeping pills in the night to be free to allegedly rape her 16-year-old niece.
Aderemi Faleye spoke before the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja, Lagos State on Monday, December 19, 2022. Olaleye is facing two-count charge of defilement of a child and sexual assault by penetration. The alleged rape victim, turned 18 years old in March.
The managing director of Optimal Cancer Care Foundation was arraigned by the Lagos State government in November 30, 2022.
He pleaded not guilty to the charge preferred against him. He was granted a bail of N50m with two sureties in like sum afterward. Olaleye was remanded in Ikoyi prison pending the fulfilment of his bail conditions. The witness and the defendant have been married for 11 years. They have two children together – a 10-year-old and a seven-year-old. Mrs Olaleye, a real estate entrepreneur, told the court that her husband gave her “junior aspirin” and Phenergan every night. “My lord, Femi, most nights, gives me a small tablet.
When I looked at this incident, I wept. How was this incident going on in my home and I did not know?,” she said.
“Femi gives me medication every night and he claims that it is junior aspirin that will avert blood clots because I’m turning 50 years old soon. My lord, maybe a medical examination should be conducted on me. I want to believe that I slept my way through all his atrocities.
Sometimes, he also gives me Phenergan, he will say I work so hard that Phenergan will help me relax my nerves.” The niece (name withheld) came to live with the family in December 2019, when she was 15 years old after her guardian, who was also Mrs Olaleye’s mother, died.
According to the witness, her husband raped her niece from March 2020 to November 2021 at their Maryland residence in Lagos.
“Femi has been sexually abusing her, He introduced her to pornography…and graduated to oral sex,” she said. She also explained how during oral sex, he “released in her mouth.”
She further said that after she must have slept, he goes out of their bedroom around 2 a.m. to rape the girl, “almost on a daily basis,” in areas where the cameras do not cover.
Mrs Olaleye said her niece confessed to her aunt that he allegedly had anal sex with her in his study and threatened her that if she revealed it to anyone, he would kill her, his wife and the children. While responding to questions from a state lawyer, Babatunde Martins, Mrs Faleye said the matter came to the fore when her children’s nanny reported to her that her niece had been rude.
“When I called her, she gave a long hiss. I disciplined her and told her to be respectful and peaceful,” she said. “When my husband came back from work, and his children told him what transpired, he went into her room to pacify her. “I told him that we ought to bring her up together. Instead, he yelled at me and said that the worst thing that I could say was that he was sleeping with her.”
She told the court that Mr Olaleye took the survivor to her aunt’s house. “At my aunt’s house, my aunt told him that what happened was not enough to bring the victim to her house,” she added. “After he left the victim in my aunt’s house, my aunt, who is a retired school principal and psychologist, asked the victim what happened and she confessed to her.
“My aunt called and told me what happened and she said I should not tell Femi about it so that he won’t hurt me.” The mother of two said when her niece confessed in her presence, she immediately went to Anthony police division to report the matter. Days later, Olaleye was arrested, she said.
The entrepreneur told the court that after her husband’s arrest, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) called her. During the meeting with the DPO and his lawyer, “he broke down in tears and confessed that he had …sex” while being visually recorded by the police. She said he signed an undertaking to stay away from her and the children, saying
“I don’t want him around my children, and home. I told his lawyer that if he could sleep with my niece that calls him daddy, he could sleep with our daughter.” She told the court that after signing an undertaking, he sent apologetic WhatsApp messages and emails “that it was the work of the devil.”
She explained to the court that in December 2021, her husband checked into Grace Cottage Clinic, a rehabilitation centre in the Ilupeju area of the state. She said the psychologist, one Ogunnubi, called her that her husband is suffering from sex addiction.
She told the court that the psychologist told her that if he isn’t “properly taken care of, my own child can be a victim.” Amidst tears, she said when one Inspector Esther came to their residence for an on-site investigation, her daughter told her (the inspector) that she had seen her father undress her niece. When asked why she reported her husband to the police, she described what he did as evil.
“I was raised to be a strong and confident woman,” she told the court. “I have a girl child…if this evil is not stopped, it will continue.”
Shortly after Mrs Olaleye’s testimony, the family driver, Waheed Yusuf, was called to testify as the second witness. Earlier in her testimony, Mrs Olaleye said that her driver once saw her niece vomiting sperm in their compound.
Mr Yusuf was called to the witness box but was later disqualified because he was in court when Mrs Olaleye spoke.
During court proceedings, other witnesses in the matter are usually asked to leave so that their testimonies will be independent of one another.