Dec. 19, 2022

Mrs Aderemi Fagbemi-Olaleye, the wife of the embattled Managing Director of Optical Cancer Care Foundation, Dr Femi Olaleye, on Monday said that her husband was suffering from sex addition.

Fagbemi-Olaleye testified before an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court.

She was led in evidence by Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions, Dr Babajide Martins.

The defendant is charged with defiling his wife’s niece, aged 16 years.

The witness told the court that her husband checked into a rehabilitation centre – Grace Cottage Clinic, Ilupeju, Lagos State – after he was granted administrative bail, following her reporting the alleged defilement at Anthony Police Station, Lagos State.

According to the witness, a psychologist, one Dr Ogunnubi, who attended to the defendant at the centre, called and confirmed to her that the defendant was suffering from sex addiction.

“Dr Ogunnubi reached out and told me that Femi was diagnosed with sexual addiction and that if care was not taken, he might, one day, sleep with our daughter.

The witness, in her evidence-in-chief, also told the court that her 10-year-old daughter told her that she saw her father undressing the allegedly defiled niece but she could not tell her ( the witness) because she did not want to make her sad.

The witness, an economist and entrepreneur, told the court that she had been married to the defendant for 11 years, adding that the union produced two children, aged 10 and seven.

According to her, the allegedly defiled teenager had been living with her since Dec. 19, 2019, at the family’s residence at Maryland, Lagos State.

She said that the survivor told her aunt on Nov. 27, 2021, that the defendant had been abusing her sexually since March 2020.

She said: “My niece confessed to my aunt, Theresa Osodi that my husband, Femi, initially introduced her to pornography; from there, it graduated to oral sex which he was doing around 2.00 a.m. on a daily basis.

“She said that he switched off the camera so that I would not notice anything. She told my aunt that Femi would unzip his

his trousers and bend down her head into his penis.

“After that, he would say, ‘Thank you, my dear; I am saving for you’.

“ This, according to her, went on from March 2020 to November 2021.

“She said that the oral sex graduated to normal sex, and that Femi would put her on the table in the study room and have sexual intercourse with her and threaten to eliminate her and every other person in the house if she would dare to tell anyone about the sex escapades,’’ the witness said.

She testified that, one day, the survivor confided in the family driver, Mr Waheed Yusuf, who met her spitting behind the family’s house.

“She cried and confided in Yusuf, who wanted to confront Femi; she held him and begged him not to tell anyone because Femi had threatened to kill her and every other person.’’

She said that her husband broke down in tears in the presence of his lawyer, Mr Olalekan, admitting having sexual intercourse with the minor.

“Femi broke down in tears and confessed to having sexual intercourse with my niece.

“Femi, in one of his apology emails and text messages, told me that my niece was a blessing to him, that if she was not living with us, he would probably be sleeping with my daughter,’’ she told the court.

She testified that the survivor was sent to the Mirabel Medical Centre for examination and was referred to a psychologist.

The witness also accused her husband of giving her sleeping tablets.

“I did not know any of these allegations until everyone in my family knew. My lord, most nights, Femi gave me small tablets of aspirin.

“There was a time we had a visitor, Aunty Bridget, who slept in the guest room and my niece decided to sleep with her.

“Unknown to Femi that we had a visitor, he tiptoed to the guest room thinking it was only my niece who was sleeping there, and removed her wrapper.

“Bridget shouted and he apologised, saying that he was checking on everyone,” she said.

The witness denied the claim that she set up her niece against her husband.

“How can I set up a 15-year-old child to destroy the father of my children? I do not have anything to gain.

While being cross-examined by defence counsel, Mr Babatunde Ogala (SAN), the witness said that Ogunnubi told her that her husband was diagnosed with sex addiction.

“Our sex life as couple was great; I was surprised that my niece gave him oral sex because he told me he never liked oral sex.

“I share the same bedroom with my husband, and I go to bed at 9.00 p.m. after praying with the children, my niece inclusive.

“My husband, sometimes, says he wants to stay back and watch television,” she said.

She also told the court that she had filed for sole custody of their children before a Yaba Magistrates’ Court.

She added that a joint account she had with her husband was opened by her and she owned 90 per cent of the money in it.

The witness also said that she did not request that their house be signed off for her as a condition for her to drop the charges.

She added that her husband did not sign change of ownership of their car worth N14 million.

Justice Ramon Oshodi adjourned the case until Dec. 21 for continuation of trial (NAN)