A defense witness at Olanrewaju James also known as Baba Ijesha’s court proceeding, Mr Lawrence Ayeni, has stated that the Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) submitted for the trial has been edited.
Mr Ayeni, who is a mechanical engineer, is the first defense witness. He said the act performed on the minor was a script being played out.
According to him, the figures seen in the clip are merely actors.
The defense witness was led by a co-lead defense counsel, Mr Babatunde Ogala (SAN).
Recall that the actor, Baba Ijesha, was arrested in April 2021, after a CCTV proved his alleged sexual molestation on a minor.
The CCTV submitted as evidence was played on a projector on Thursday, during the court proceeding.
Following his arrest, the actor confessed to the act and shamelessly begged for forgiveness, revealing that the ‘devil’ pushed him into it.
However, in a new plot, the defense witness has stated that it was all a script.
Ayeni said, “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.
“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.”
Under cross-examination by the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions, Dr. Babajide Martins, the witness admitted that the CCTV footage could not be manipulated at the time of recording.
Ayeni also submitted that speculations of tampering with the recording or using various devices to record could not change the contents or what was said in the footage.
The defendant is facing a six-count charge bordering on indecent treatment of a child, sexual assault, attempted sexual assault by penetration and sexual assault by penetration.
The Judge, Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo, adjourned proceedings to March 4.
