Girl gang-raped by 2 Lekki “big boys” moves to Withdraw Lawsuit

The Girl who was gang-raped by 2 Lekki “big boys” moves to withdraw the lawsuit.

On February 3, 2019, the girl was allegedly drugged at a nightclub and gang-raped by two dropouts of Babcock University, Don-Chima George and Olusegun Razak – in a hotel owned by George’s dad. New reports state that she wants the criminal suit filed against them withdrawn.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the victim made the request during proceedings at an Ikeja Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Court on Thursday, via a “Letter of Withdrawal”.

In the letter, dated June 3, 2019, which was read in court by Justice Abiola Soladoye, the complainant attributed her decision to the “intervention of family members” and for the sake of her integrity.

However, Mr Akin George, a Deputy-Director in the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) and lead state prosecutor, however, opposed the complainant’s request.

“We do not have a directive from the office of the Attorney-General (AG). My lord, the Honourable AG is the complainant in this case. In every criminal matter, victims are naturally witnesses and as we speak, there is no AG in office due to the change in power.

We are also aware of the rules of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) which states that even the Court of Appeal cannot stay an ongoing proceeding.

Our office initiated this action in court and there has to be a closure one way or the other. My lord, we have submitted issues for the respective decisions of this court.

We will bring the witness to state her position before the court, while we continue proceedings and await directives from the AG’s office,” George said.

After listening to the submissions of the prosecution and defence, Justice Soladoye said that the court would continue with proceedings, and that bail would not be granted to the defendants because the court had already delivered a ruling denying them bail.

“However, so that these proceedings will not be an exercise in futility, a short adjournment will be taken, pending directives from the office of the AG,” she said.
The case was adjourned to June 18 for continuation of trial.