Punch newspaper has amended their story on the ruling of the court regarding the rape case filed by Photographer Busola Dakolo against Biodun Fatoyinbo of Commonwealth Zion Assembly (COZA).
Recall that the Newspaper reported that FCT high court dismissed a suit filed by Busola Dakolo and ordered her to pay the sum of one million naira for wasting the court’s time, stating categorically that Biodun Fatoyinbo had won the Court Case.
Meanwhile the copy of Court ruling shows that the suit against Fatoyinbo was “statute barred”. Justice A.O Musa, ruled that the matter was filed out of time because the events that crystallized to form the cause of action took place 16 years ago and Mrs Dakolo had only six years within which to seek redress in court in line with the statute of limitation.
Today, Lawyer to Busola Dakolo wrote Punch, telling them to retract the story which he claimed is false whilst giving the Newspaper the following Ultimatums;
– An immediate retraction of the said News/report
– A public apology to the Dakolo’s on all their media platforms and
– A confidential release of the name of the person who sponsored the News content. (Read more here).
Well, Punch has published a new report on the ruling and agreed that the one they circulated was truly sponsored, though without mentioning the name of their sponsor.
Below is partly how Punch republished it:
“The certified copy of the judgment obtained by The PUNCH revealed that the judge ordered Dakolo’s lawyer, Pelumi Olajengbesi, to pay the sum of N1m personally as a fine and not Mrs. Dakolo.
“Earlier reports and a sponsored post in The PUNCH, published about three hours after the said judgment, had said in error that the damage was awarded against Dakolo personally.
“Justice Othman Musa, in giving the judgment, held that the court action amounted to “an injustice and an abuse of judicial process.”
“The judge wrote that “What is left in the suit is sentiment and the case is soaked in emotions and ferried into the court by the claimant (Dakolo) riding on the thick clouds of burgeoning sentiments.”
“While the judge acknowledged the sensitivity surrounding rape claims and the compassion they ordinarily attract, he added that it would be an act of ‘grave injustice’ to ask the defendant to defend the allegation in the absence of necessary evidence.
“His Lordship added that “dormant claims such as this have injustice written all over it.”
“He said, “No matter how one views the claim, having compassion, that an issue such as rape is pleaded herein, it is my view that notwithstanding the statute of limitation, it will occasion a grave miscarriage of justice to ask the defendant to defend an action that is well over 16 years.
“Giving reasons for his judgment, Justice Musa wrote: “The claims carry more of cruelty in them than justice. There are no new facts resurrecting the broken chain of causation in the instant action whereas in this case, the claimant ought to demonstrate the reason why the action was not filed for over 16 years.
““This, she ought to have done by claiming, for instance, due to DNA evidence, they have been able to discover new facts that were allegedly not available and tie the said DNA to the defendant. This is not the case in the instant action.
““It is for all the reasons I advanced herein before, that I declare this action a vehicle of injustice, judicial intimidation and thorough abuse of judicial process carrying in it an overload of dormant claim and injustice, it must and is hereby dismissed. I hereby award the cost of one million naira (N1, 000, 000) against the claimant’s client personally.”
“Justice Musa added that he would have ordered Dakolo’s lawyer to pay “10 times the amount” but “in the interest of women who have cases that are dormant, the court shall always encourage them to come forward.””
Click here for the certified copy of the ruling.
