Lagos Judge Calls For Establishment Of Victim, Witness Protection Agency

A Lagos State High Court judge, Justice Rahman Oshodi, has called on the state government to urgently constitute the Victim Assistance and Witness Protection Agency, warning that the failure to operationalise the body has left important safeguards for victims of crime, particularly children subjected to sexual abuse, largely unavailable.

Justice Oshodi made the call in his judgment in the case of The State of Lagos v. Adio Serious, drawing attention to the Lagos State Victim Assistance and Witness Protection Law, enacted by the ninth State Assembly and assented to by the governor in 2024.

The law provides for the rights and entitlements of crime victims, including support and compensation, as well as protection for witnesses against intimidation, reprisals and other forms of harm.

However, the judge observed that the agency responsible for implementing the law had yet to be constituted, leaving the protections provided for in the legislation largely unavailable in practice.

His concerns also featured in a separate judgment in which he discharged and acquitted a 54-year-old man, Taiwo Oyelabi, who had been charged with raping his 21-year-old biological daughter.

Justice Oshodi held that although the prosecution established that Oyelabi had sexual intercourse with his daughter, it failed to prove that the act occurred without her consent, a crucial ingredient of the offence of rape.

The judge also faulted the prosecution for failing to call the alleged victim, whom he described as the only person who could give direct evidence on whether she consented to the sexual intercourse.

Oyelabi was charged with one count of rape, contrary to Section 260 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State 2015, over an alleged incident in November 2017 at No. 15, Community Road, Obadore, Igando, Lagos.

He was first arraigned on October 2, 2019, and pleaded not guilty. The charge was subsequently read to him again when he was arraigned before Justice Oshodi on December 9, 2021.

During the trial, the prosecution called only one witness, Assistant Superintendent of Police Iyabo Bakare, who told the court that the police received information on April 16, 2018, that the defendant was having sexual intercourse with his biological daughter.

She said she and another police officer visited the residence and took the defendant and his daughter to the police station.

According to her testimony, the daughter made a statement alleging that her father had been having sexual intercourse with her since she began living with him.

ASP Bakare further told the court that the defendant admitted the sexual relationship during police interrogation and subsequently repeated the admission before the Divisional Police Officer, saying he was having an affair with his daughter and had impregnated her.

However, the prosecution’s attempt to tender the defendant’s written confessional statement was unsuccessful.

Following a trial-within-trial, Justice Oshodi rejected the statement for failure to comply with Section 9(3) of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State 2015, which required that it be recorded in the presence of his legal practitioner and a family member or through video recording.

The judge, however, distinguished the rejected written statement from the separate oral admission allegedly made before the Divisional Police Officer, which ASP Bakare said she personally witnessed. He held that her account of the admission constituted direct evidence and was admissible.

Justice Oshodi consequently found that the prosecution had established sexual intercourse and penetration. He, however, maintained that these findings alone could not sustain a rape conviction without proof that the act occurred without consent or that consent was obtained through force, threat, fraud, deceit or other unlawful means.

He also rejected the police officer’s account of what the complainant and her twin sister allegedly told her during investigations as hearsay, noting that their statements could not be relied upon to establish the allegations.

On the alleged pregnancy, the court observed that although ASP Bakare testified that she saw the complainant was pregnant and estimated the pregnancy to be about four months old, the prosecution failed to produce medical evidence to confirm the pregnancy or establish its age.

The medical report, which the officer said had been transferred to the Gender Unit of the Lagos State Police Command, was also not tendered.

In examining the prosecution’s failure to establish the absence of consent, Justice Oshodi referred to the Court of Appeal’s decision in Kabiru Oriyomi v. FRN (2023), which underscored the importance of direct evidence from an alleged victim in determining the question of consent.

He held that the defendant’s oral admission established sexual intercourse but did not amount to an admission that the act was committed by force or without consent.

With no admissible evidence establishing the absence of consent, the judge also found that the prosecution had failed to prove the defendant’s intention to have sexual intercourse without consent.

Justice Oshodi consequently ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove the charge beyond reasonable doubt and discharged and acquitted Oyelabi.

The judgment also revisited the judge’s earlier observations on alleged incestuous sexual abuse within families, referencing six other cases handled by the court between October and December 2025.

While some defendants in those cases were convicted and sentenced to prison terms, others were discharged or acquitted, while one case was struck out for want of diligent prosecution.

Among those convicted were Michael Segun Odumabo, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for defilement; Godwin Udo Akpan, who received a 14-year prison sentence for attempted sexual assault by penetration; and Sola Lawson, who was convicted of indecent treatment of a child and sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.

The judge stressed that regardless of the gravity of an allegation, no defendant could be convicted on suspicion, reiterating the constitutional presumption of innocence and the prosecution’s obligation to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

He also expressed concern that Oyelabi had spent more than eight years in custody since his arrest on April 16, 2018, despite the prosecution calling only one witness.

Justice Oshodi commended the defendant’s lawyer, Onome Akpeneye, for representing him pro bono since December 9, 2021.

He also criticised inadequate prosecution of cases, which he said leaves defendants in custody for years without sufficient evidence being presented before the court.