Court orders Ondo govt to pay N25m over missing child in orphanage

Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure has ordered the Ondo State Government and the state Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development to pay N25 million in damages to Mrs Opeyemi Adegboyega over the disappearance of her son while in the custody of a state-run juvenile home.

The court held that the disappearance of the child, Omoniyi Oluwaseun, from the Ondo State Juvenile Home in Akure was caused by the negligent conduct of the defendants.

Adegboyega had entrusted her three-month-old son to the care of the juvenile home, which is supervised by the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, while she underwent treatment for depression and schizophrenia at the Ondo State Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital.

After about a month of treatment, the claimant was discharged and returned to the facility to retrieve her child and was however, informed that the baby had died and that the corpse had been deposited at the morgue of the State Specialist Hospital.

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The woman subsequently visited the hospital to verify the claim but was allegedly told that no child’s corpse had been deposited at the morgue by officials of the ministry.

Dissatisfied with the explanation, Adegboyega, through her counsel, Mr Oju Kekemeke, instituted a suit against the Ondo State Government and the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

In the judgment delivered by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay, a copy of which was made available to journalists on Tuesday, the court described the evidence presented by the defendants as “unbelievable, unconscionable, unsubstantiated, untrue and untenable.”

The court declared that the claimant suffered “excruciating pain, anguish, personal loss and psychological trauma” as a result of the disappearance of her son from the state facility.

Justice Osadebay awarded N10 million as exemplary and aggravated damages and N15 million as general damages for the pain, anguish, personal loss, psychological trauma and persistent shock suffered by the claimant due to the defendants’ negligence.

The court also awarded N200,000 as the cost of the action.