A-30-year-old painter, Amos Samuel accused of defiling two children has regained his freedom after Justice Abiola Soladoye of a Lagos State Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Court, Ikeja discharged and acquitted on Thursday.
He was accused of defiling two minors, ages four and five (name withheld).
The trial judge released Samuel after she held that the prosecution failed to discharge the burden of prove on the two-count charge bordering on defilement.
Delivering the judgement, the trial judge said that the totality of the evidence before the court was watery, saying “there were doubts created in the mind of the court and the prosecution failed to present the two alleged survivors as witnesses in court.”
According to her, the alleged survivors are not in court to testify and the evidence adduced is not cogent enough to convict the defendant.
Justice Soladoye said the law was at the disposal of the prosecution to prove the case beyond reasonable doubts in a criminal trial.
She further said that the evidence of the only prosecution witness, who is a medical doctor could have corroborated the evidence of the alleged survivors if they were in court.
She said: “It is to be stressed that the children, two in number, were not in court to tell their different stories.
“The attendance in court is key and it is also instructive to say that if the children were in court, their evidence would have been corroborated with the evidence of the prosecution witness.
“The absence of these children is fatal to the case of the prosecution and it is also instructive to state that witnesses are meant to be in court to testify as mere reporting of crime at police stations is not enough.
“Litigants as well as witnesses should have confidence and be in court to tell their stories without fear of intimidation.”
Meanwhile the judge has advised stakeholders in the judicial sector, most especially, the prosecutor, to preach the gospel of witness protection law to their respective witnesses so that they could have confidence to testify in court.
According to her, non attendance of witnesses in court drags the wheels of the justice system backward.
“Aside from this, the testimony of the medical doctor who testified as the prosecution witness can never take the place of the victims.
“Though PWI testified professionally and the outcome of his medical examination was tendered before the court.
“It is right that where there is cloudy evidence, such issues should be resolved in the favour of the defendant,” Soladoye said.
Subsequently, the judge discharged and acquitted him of the two-count charge.
The Prosecution alleged that Samuel defied the children on April 15, 2023 in Ajah Lagos.
The Prosecution alleged that the defendant unlawfully had sexual intercourse with the underage children.
According to the prosecution, the alleged offence contravenes Section 137 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State, 2015.
