Baba Ijesha video molesting underage girl movie scene – witness

A witness has told the Ikeja Special Offences Court that the video recording of Yoruba actor Olarenwaju James molesting an underaged girl was a scene from a movie shoot.

Olarenwaju James, known in movies as Baba Ijesha, is facing charges of child molesting and sexual assault. At the resumed hearing of the case, a defence witness Lawrence Ayeni contends the closed-circuit TV (CCTV) footage of alleged defilement of the girl by Baba Ijesa was doctored.

“The CCTV has no audio because it was a fibre camera that was used.

The voices you heard are of the persons who recorded the encounter, directing the script, and later edited the recording,” Ayeni said.

“Baba Ijesha is acting what the director asked him to. The girl often looks at the camera, so she was acting out what she was told to.”

He added, “At the point of copying the content into a computer, errors could have been inputed, or it got tampered with.”

Ayeni, who introduced himself as a graduate of Mechanical Engineering and expert in video production, CCTV installation and maintenance, was lead in evidence by co-lead defence counsel Babatunde Ogala (SAN).

One of the four videos submitted by the prosecution showed Baba Ijesha and the 14-year-old victim in the home of her foster mother, comedienne Damilola Adekoya, alias Princess

The other videos showed the defendant pleading for forgiveness from Princess when she accosted him. Another footage showed his arrest. The final footage showed his statement taken while he was in police custody.

Under cross-examination by the Lagos Director of Public Prosecutions, Babajide Martins, the witness admitted that CCTV footage could not be manipulated at the time of recording.

Ayeni submitted that speculations of tampering with the recording or using various devices to record could not change the content or what was said in the footage.

Trial judge Oluwatoyin Taiwo adjourned proceedings until March 4 for the continuation of defence.

NAN