Trial of Olanrewaju James Omiyinka also known as Baba Ijesha continued on Thursday in respect of the sexual assault charge pressed against him.
At the proceeding today, a defence witness and expert ìn CCTV installation and maintenance, Engr. Adeleke Lawrence, gave an evidence on the workings of Close Circuit Television, CCTV, and other recording devices.
Led in evidence by the Lead defence counsel, Babatunde Ogala, a senior Advocate of Nigeria, the expert told the court that the content of CCTV, recordings on the defendant may have been tampered with.
He told Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of an Ikeja Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court.
Engr. Adeleke stated this on the premise of four video recordings of Baba Ijesha played in court at the request of Ogala.
One of the videos showed Baba Ijesha and the 14-year old in the home of her foster mother, comedienne, Damilola Adekoya alias Princess recorded in April 2021 before his arrest.
Both of them were seated on a couch for a while, then they both walked out. When they returned, Baba Ijesha offers her a cup to drink, kisses her hand up the stretch of her arm and draws her close to him.
They were speaking but their voices cannot be heard.
Another video showed the defendant sitting on a couch with the survivor, showed two men and a woman walking out but had no audio.
Another video showed the defendant sitting on the floor and begging the complainant, a comediane, Damilola Adekoya a.k.a Princess.
When asked of his opinion on what he saw, the witness said: “the gentleman and the lady appeared to be acting the way they were asked to do.”
To transfer recordings from a CCTV, Engr. Adeleke said there must bẹ a hard drive and a computer. “To transfer from hard drive, it must pass through a computer. In the process of passing through a computer, an error might occur. Along the line, it might lead to editing.
“The one I watched passed through a process of editing. It did not pass through a hard drive. Maybẹ along the line, it was tampered with.
“I am very sure that what we watched may have been tampered with based on the way it was fast forwarded,” the witness said.
Engr. Adeleke explained that voices heard on the recording after it was forwarded were not from the ‘actors’ in the film but voice-over from those handling the recording.
He was asked to explain the word ‘ins’ seen at end of a shot, the witness described it as ‘In shot’, an application used in editing video.
Adeleke said it appeared on the recording because the application was used to edit the video.
The witness said the device used to record is either a camcorder or phone and not CCTV.
He explained that it was not CCTV because of picture quality, that CCTV cannot be angle 90 and that it has to be by convex or concave.
However under cross examination, the witness agreed with the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Dr. Babajide Martins that the content of a CCTV recording cannot be tampered with when used together with devices like Network Video Recording, NVR, and Internet Protocol, IP.
The witness agreed with the prosecution that when the devices are present ìn the CCTV, the content cannot be tampered with or manipulated.
Engr. Adeleke agreed that the devices would make the recordings to look clearer, flow smoothly and camera picture sharp.
The defence witness also agreed with the prosecution that the content of the video recordings would not change no matter the colour.
He however said he does not know what a B-Cam, a second camera used in seeing other angle of a recording is.
The witness also agreed with the prosecution that a CCTV made up of a camera, DVR made of fibre, monitor and hard drive cannot be manipulated.
When asked if what a person said in the recordings would change, the defence witness said it might reduce in voice quality but not ìn content.
Baba Ijesha is facing a six count charge of child defilement bordering on allegations of indecent treatment of a child, sexual assault, attempted sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault by penetration before Justice Taiwo.
The trial judge, Justice Taiwo adjourned the matter to March 4.
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