Court Orders Ondo Government to Pay N25m over Disappearance of Baby from Juvenile Home

The Ondo State High Court in Akure has ordered the state government to pay N25 million in damages to Opeyemi Adegboyega over the disappearance of her three-month-old son from the custody of the Ondo State Juvenile Home.

In a judgement delivered on June 4, Justice Oluyemi Osadebay held that the disappearance of three-month-old Omoniyi Oluwaseun was caused by the “negligent act” of the defendants — the Ondo State Government and the Ondo State Ministry of Women Affairs.

The juvenile home is under the supervision of the Ondo State Ministry of Women Affairs.

—The Case—

According to court documents reportedly  seen by TheCable, Adegboyega told the court that she was an outpatient at the Ondo State Neuropsychiatric Specialist Hospital in Akure, the state capital, in October 2017.

She said she went to the neuropsychiatric hospital with her children on October 29, 2017. Adegboyega, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and depression, said she received treatment that day and was subsequently transferred with her three children to the Ondo State Juvenile Home.

The claimant told the court that her transfer to the juvenile home was supervised by the Medical Social Services Department of the neuropsychiatric hospital.

She said officials of the juvenile home offered to take custody of her three children to enable her to continue receiving treatment at the psychiatric hospital. Adegboyega said she, her mother, and a family friend decided to leave Oluwaseun, who was three months old at the time, in the custody of the juvenile home.

However, when she returned to the juvenile home in November 2017, Adegboyega said she was informed that the baby had died and that his corpse had been deposited at the Ondo State Specialist Hospital.

Adegboyega said she and the child’s father, Omoniyi Idowu, asked officials of the juvenile home to take them to the mortuary. She added that the officials declined and instead directed them to the mortuary at the specialist hospital.

The claimant said when the child’s father got to the hospital, he was informed that it had not received the corpse of any child in the last five months.

In her witness statement, Adetoye Sefi Hannah, a health assistant at the juvenile home, told the court that it was discovered that the baby had suffered a head injury while in the custody of his mother.

Hannah said when the baby became sick, she and another official took him to the hospital, where he was confirmed dead. During cross-examination, Hannah said the baby died on November 29, 2017.

–The Judgement–

In the certified true copy of the judgment reportedly seen by _TheCable_, Osadebay said there was no evidence placed before the court that the baby had suffered a head injury before he was placed in the custody of the juvenile home.