Justice John Adeyeye of an Ado-Ekiti High Court has discharged and acquitted a 51-year-old man, Asalu Olorunkemi, serving two years imprisonment for assaulting one Olubunmi Beatrice.
Olorunkemi and others at large had in August been sentenced to two years imprisonment, with an option of N50,000 fine.
They were accused of physically assaulting the complainant by beating her.
The offence was committed at Fasuba Plaza, Ilawe-Ekiti Road, Ado-Ekiti within the Ado-Ekiti Magisterial Division.
The alleged offence was said to have been contrary to Section 2b (1) and punishable under Section 4 (a) of the Ekiti State Gender Based Violence Prohibition Law 2011.
Dissatisfied with the judgment of the Magistrate Court, the convict approached a higher court for an appeal.
The appellant’s Counsel, Olalekan Olatawura, had argued on the grounds that the lower court erred in its judgment.
The judge was, however, of the opinion that the prosecution did not prove its case beyond reasonable doubt that the complainant was indeed assaulted on the said date, as alleged.
This, he said, was in view of the contradictions between the oral testimony of the prosecution witnesses and the documentary evidence tendered in support of the crime.
One of the witnesses, a Police Officer, had stated that the petition received specified that the assault took place on November 13, 2014, while the medical report was dated September 2, 2014.
Adeyeye, therefore, discharged and acquitted the defendant on the grounds that the prosecution was unable to prove its case beyond every reasonable doubt.
He said that with the observations that there were contradictions in the evidences tendered by the prosecution which, he noted went materially to the charge, the appeal was consequently allowed to lie.
The judge said that the testimony of the prosecution witnesses failed to establish that the accused actually committed the offence of assault.
He said: “Asalu Olorunkemi, you are hereby discharged and acquitted of the offence of assault, dated November 13, 2014.”