‘Sexual assault’: CCTV footage of Baba Ijesha was edited, expert claims

Lawrence Ayeni, the first defence witness in the ongoing trial of Baba Ijesha for alleged sexual assault, has claimed that parts of the closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage used as evidence against the actor were edited.

Baba Ijesha is charged with six counts of indecent treatment of a child, sexual assault, attempted sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault by penetration.

He is undergoing trial before an Ikeja special offences court.

Comedian Princess, the foster mother of the minor allegedly molested by the actor, had earlier tendered a CCTV footage of the incident before the court.

NAN reports that when the trial resumed on Thursday, Ayeni, who testified before the court, claimed that the actor and the minor he allegedly defiled were both acting out a script in the footage.

Ayeni, a graduate of mechanical engineering, said he’s experienced in video production and CCTV installation and maintenance.

Led in evidence by Babatunde Ogala, co-lead counsel to the actor, the witness told the court that one of the CCTV recordings of the alleged encounter had been tampered with at the point of editing.

During his testimony, four videos were played on a projector in the courtroom.

“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,” he 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.

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

Oluwatoyin Taiwo, the judge, thereafter adjourned till March 4 for continuation of defence.