The Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure has ordered the Ondo State Government to pay N25 million in damages to a woman, Mrs Opeyemi Adegboyega, over the disappearance of her infant son from a state-owned juvenile home.
Justice Oluyemi Osadebay, who delivered the judgment, described the defence presented by the government as “unbelievable, unconscionable, unsubstantiated, untrue and untenable.”
Adegboyega had dragged the Ondo State Government and the Ondo State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development before the court following the disappearance of her three-month-old son, Omoniyi Oluwaseun, from the Ondo State Juvenile Home in Akure.
The claimant, who was receiving treatment for depression and schizophrenia at the Ondo State Neuropsychiatric Hospital, had temporarily surrendered the child to the custody of the Ministry of Women Affairs to enable her undergo proper treatment.
However, after her discharge from the hospital, she returned to reclaim her baby but was informed by officials that the child had died and that the body had been deposited at a mortuary.
Further checks at the State Specialist Hospital reportedly revealed that no child’s body had been deposited at the mortuary by officials of the ministry, prompting the woman to seek legal redress.
In its judgment, the court held that the disappearance of the child from the juvenile home was caused by the negligent actions of the defendants.
Justice Osadebay declared, “This court hereby declares that the claimant has suffered excruciating pain, anguish, personal loss and psychological trauma as a result of the disappearance of Omoniyi Oluwaseun from the Ondo State Juvenile Home under the supervision of the Ondo State Ministry of Women Affairs.”
The court 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.
The judge also ordered the defendants to pay N200,000 as the cost of the action.
