Recall that Baba Ijesha was arraigned before the court by the Lagos State government 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.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo, adjourned the case for judgment after the prosecution and defence counsel adopted their final written addresses.

During the court sitting, the defence counsel, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Dada Awosika asked the court not to ascribe any importance to exhibit A, a CCTV footage tendered by the persecution. He asked the court to dismiss and reject the evidence on the grounds that it had been tampered with.

“The original closed-circuit Television footage has been tampered with by the maker, Princess and according to experts was not tendered as exhibit in the original form,” Awosika said.

“Exhibit A was illegally obtained as the defendant was invited because of an incident that happened seven years ago without any report made to the police.

“It is our submission that the age of the alleged victim is an issue and the court is bound to call the biological mother of the victim who is alive to determine the age of the victim either by birth certificate, through the biological mother or scientifically to determine her age because it was not specified.”

The Lagos State Director of Prosection, Dr Babajide Martins, on his part, told the court that the testimonies of the seven prosecution witnesses cannot be thrown away.

Martins said, “During cross-examination of the CCTV expert, Lawrence Ayeni, he confirmed that CCTV footage cannot be manipulated or tampered with.

He urged the court to accept the testimonies of the experts who gave their best to help resolve the case.

“Written addresses cannot be substituted to live testimonies of experts given in the court and so we urge the court to sentence the defendant as charged.

“The defendant admitted to having been with the girl in both the incident that happened seven years ago and the one that happened in 2021. He also admitted to having sucked her fingers during the cross-examination,” he added.

The court during Omiyinka’s trial on Thursday held that one of the sureties must be a blood relation, resident in Lagos, and must have a tax clearance certificate of three years preceding today.  Such relation must also make a monetary bond of N1million to the Chief Registrar of the court.

The other surety must be a legal practitioner whose call to bar certificate must be verified by the court.

He has seven days to perfect the bail but today he was released to the head of the legal team, Babatunde Ogala SAN.

The court then adjourned to the 26th, 27th, and 28th of July for the prosecution to open its case against the defendant.

Ijesha made the appeal when he was arraigned at a Special Offences and Domestic Violence Court in Ikeja.

The actor is being tried over charges bothering on rape, sexual assault and abuse of a minor by the Directorate of Public Prosecutions in Lagos.

Appearing before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo, the state counsel, Mrs Olayinka Adeyemi, said that the state had filed six counts charges against the defendant urging the court to take the plea of the defendant.

Subsequently, Mrs Adeyemi asked for a trial date while asking court to remand the defendant in correctional facility pending commencement of trial.

In a counter reaction, Baba Ijesha’s legal team, led by two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, Mr. Babatunde Ogala and Mr. Dada Awosika, along with 17 others, informed the court that they had filed a bail application and have served same on the prosecuting team.

Ogala urged the court to grant them audience to argue the bail application.

However, the state counsel, Mrs Adeyemi opposed the prayer stating that her team is yet to verify the medical report which the defense relied on for his bail consideration.

In a short ruling, Justice Taiwo granted the request of the defense team and asked parties to argue the bail application.

During the argument of the bail application, Ogala urged the court to grant Baba Ijesha bail, relying on Section 36(5) of the Constitution.

According to Ogala, the defendant also ought to be granted bail considering his popularity and the credible sureties provided.

The judge, however, stood down the case for ruling.

Magistrate Peter Nwaka gave this ruling when the Baba Ijesha matter came up before him.

Already, Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions, DPP, has filed a five-count charge on sexual assault against him before the High Court.

Chief Magistrate Oluwatoyin Oghre initially granted him bail on May 16, on the condition of providing two sureties.

One of the sureties must be a Level 10 Officer, while the other must be a blood relation, he said. The bail is set at N700,000 for each of them.

Omiyinka was arraigned before the court on Wednesday to answer to rape charges following the suspension of a months-long industrial action by judicial workers.

The magistrate stated that the court had no jurisdiction to rule on the bail because the government has filed the case at the High Court.

The court clerk read out five count charges of indecent treatment of a child, defilement of a child, sexual assault by penetration, attempted sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault— which contravenes sections 135, 137, 261, 202, 262 and 263 of the Lagos State Criminal Law 2015.

The actor pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.

Giving his submission, the prosecutor in the matter, S. A. Adebesin, told the magistrate that information had been filed before the High Court on the matter by the state prosecution.

Following the submission, the counsel to the defendant, Kayode Olabiran, made a fresh application to bail the defendant.

Mobolaji Owoebute-Okedeji, a counsel from the DPP opposed the bail, saying “The matter has already been filed at the High Court.”

Giving his ruling, Mr. Nwaka said he cannot grant the defendant bail because there are indications that the case will commence at the High Court.

“This is a situation of lack of jurisdiction, because once a case is filed at an upper court, the lower court, being the magistrate in this case, ceases to have jurisdiction over the same matter.

“I have carefully considered the application of the counsel to the defendant seeking bail for the defendant and the opposition by the counsel from the DPP.

“Since there are indications that the matter is before the high court and the defendant will appear before the court, no bail can be given.

“The defendant must be accorded full medical attention by the authorities pending his arraignment at the high court,” the magistrate said.

Mr. Nwaka adjourned the matter till July 13 for mention.

The court ruled that Baba Ijesha will remain in detention till he is tried at the High Court.

InsideOjodu recalls that Baba Ijesha was arrested in March after he was caught on camera attempting to defile the foster daughter of comedienne, Princess.

In a video shared online, Princess alleged that he had initially raped her foster daughter when she was seven and then also attempted to sexually assault her again recently.

But on Wednesday, Nollywood actor Yomi Fabiyi had staged a protest in front of the Lagos State Criminal Investigation Department over the detention of his colleague, which he described as “illegal.”

Addressing the Nollywood actor, the Commissioner said Baba Ijesha has been held in custody based on legal advice from the Directorate of Public Prosecutions in the state Ministry of Justice and after a prima facie case had been established against him.

He also revealed that Baba Ijesha’s continuous detention will be reviewed if the JUSUN strike continues indefinitely.

Baba Ijesa was recently caught on tape harassing a minor and was arrested by the police in Lagos state.

Following this, he is expected to face five-count charge bothering on the offences, which according to the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Moyosore Onigbanjo (SAN) was based on the DPP’s advice.

The offences are indecent treatment of a child, defilement of a child, attempted sexual assault by penetration, attempted sexual assault by penetration, and sexual assault.

Defilement and sexual assault by penetration carry life imprisonment while three other counts attract seven, three and 14 years imprisonment respectively, under sections 135, 137, 261, 262 and 263 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.

Onigbanjo said the Police on April 30, 2021, forwarded the case file of ‘COP v Olanrewaju James’ to the DPP for legal advice.

On Wednesday, Visalia police announced the arrest of Nickey Stane in connection with four of the seven sexual assaults, according to reports. The victims were women ages 17 to 47.

On Friday, Fresno police and prosecutors announced at a news conference that Stane will be charged with the murder of Debbie Dorian, a 22-year-old college student who was found dead in her home by her father 23 years ago, Fox 26 Fresno reported.

“Nickey Stane is every woman’s nightmare,” Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp told reporters, according to the station. “He appears to be a regular person, and he is a sexual predator who has terrorized women throughout this Valley.”

Dorian’s case was reopened in 2016 when DNA showed that the person who killed her was the same person who sexually attacked the seven Visalia women, the station reported.

Her killer wrapped duct tape around her face, causing her to asphyxiate.

Two retired detectives returned to duty to work on the case.

“Any time you are able to solve a violent crime like this, there is a great deal of satisfaction, knowing that, although we will never bring any type of closure to the family, we can at least bring them some kind of justice,” Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said, according to Fox 26.

Using DNA from the first sexual assault, Visalia investigators pored through genealogical databases to come up with Stane as a suspect, the Fresno Bee reported last week.

Police said that when they compared that crime scene DNA to Stane’s DNA it came back positive, according to the paper.

Visalia police didn’t disclose how they obtained Stane’s DNA, the paper reported.

Stane pleaded not guilty to charges in the Visalia sexual assault case, according to reports.

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced the penalty Thursday after the school settled with the department to resolve two investigations. DeVos said that Nassar’s actions were “disgusting and unimaginable” but that so too was the university’s response.

“Too many people in power knew about the behaviors and the complaints and yet the predators continued on the payroll and abused even more students,” DeVos said in a call with reporters. “This must not happen again there or anywhere else.”

The fine is the largest levied under the Clery Act, a federal law that requires colleges to collect data on campus crime and notify students of threats. The previous largest fine, $2.4 million, was imposed in 2016 against Pennsylvania State University over its handling of sexual misconduct involving former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The department’s investigation concluded that Michigan State violated several key parts of the Clery Act along with Title IX, a federal law forbidding discrimination based on gender in education.

Michigan State did not immediately provide comment.

A department investigation found that Michigan State violated the Clery Act by failing to disclose crime statistics, failing to issue campus warnings about security threats and failing to establish a system to collect crime statistics. As a remedy, the school says it will hire a “Clery compliance officer” and create measures to protect athletes and children who participate in youth programs on campus.

A separate Title IX investigation found that Michigan State failed to respond to reports of sexual misconduct against Nassar and his supervisor William Strampel, failed to take interim measures to protect students while complaints against both men were pending, and failed to take steps to end any harassment and prevent it from recurring.

The unnamed accuser claimed that another woman groped her while she was working the Republican Party of Minnesota booth at the event. According to Fox 9, the suspect left the booth after the alleged assault occurred around 8:50 Friday night.

State Fair police spokeswoman Brooke Blakey told the Star Tribune newspaper the alleged victim was “groped … over the clothes” but wouldn’t identify which body part was involved. The 40-year-old volunteer alleged that she was groped twice, according to ABC 5.

Republican Party of Minnesota Chair Jennifer Carnahan tweeted late Friday: “Violence is never the answer. To the Democrats that sexually assaulted one of our volunteers today at thee @mngop  booth, and the men that harassed the female staff and I at the end of the night-SHAME ON YOU. The MN State Fair is supposed to be a place of fun and celebration.”

“There is no place for violence in our society, let alone at one’s place of employment, and the Republican Party of Minnesota has a zero-tolerance policy for such behavior,” Carnahan said in a statement to the Star Tribune.

“We can only hope that this is not indicative of what our Republican volunteers, candidates, activists and leaders will face as we head into the 2020 elections,” Carnahan told Fox 9. ” “We are supposed to be salt of the earth, genuine folk here in Minnesota.”

The Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party had no immediate comment on Carnahan’s claims.