Babatunde Ogala, the lead counsel to Baba Ijesha, the embattled Nigerian actor, says the minor his client was accused of molesting was also allegedly abused sexually by two other persons.
Baba Ijesha was arraigned before the Lagos special offences court on Tuesday for allegedly assaulting the 14-year-old girl who is a foster child of Comedian Princess.
Princess had while testifying in the court on Monday gave her own side of events that led to the alleged sexual assault of her daughter by the actor.
But during the cross-examination of her account by the defence team, Ogala told the court that the minor had previously been molested by Damola Adekola, a neighbour to Princess, as well as Okele, security guard to the actress.
The senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN) questioned why the actress initially failed to report the matter to the police.
In her reaction, Princess said it was a case of attempted molestation, adding that the two people mentioned did not succeed with their intentions.
Princess also told the court that she only got wind of the allegation against Adekola in April shortly after Baba Ijesha incident became public.
The actress dismissed claims that she refused to report the matter to the police.
She added that after she learnt of the incident, she reported to police and Adekola was thereafter arrested.
“He was arrested because I reported him to the police in December 2020 after he attempted to sexually harass my daughter,” she said.
“He did not molest her, he harassed her. He put his hand on her laps and told her to put her hands on his penis and she said no and when she refused she screamed.
“I reported to the police when I found out. This happened at my house around 9.30 p.m. I was at a meeting at Sabo, Yaba and my sister was with them and I needed her attention at Sabo.
“I asked them to go to bed and when it was 9.30 p.m I asked him (Adekola) to still check up on them to ensure that they are not still out watching cartoons after their bedtime.
“She told me what happened on April 20 or 21 (after Baba Ijesha’s arrest). That was the only attempted molestation that happened in my house.
“The other one happened when I sent her to his (Adekola’s) house, he attempted to grab her, she screamed and ran upstairs. This was around late December 2020, I also found out about it at the police station.”
On Okele, Princess said the security guard did not molest her daughter but that he exposed himself indecently to the teenager.
She said that the security guard also had a drinking habit, adding that she had fired him before the allegation came to light.
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