Court orders Ondo to pay N25m over missing child in orphanage

An Ondo State High Court has ordered the state government to pay N25 million in damages to a mother whose infant son vanished from a state-run juvenile home. The court's judgment, delivered by Justice Oluyemi Osadebay, found the government's explanations for the child's disappearance to be "unbelievable, unconscionable, unsubstantiated, untrue and untenable."

“

unbelievable, unconscionable, unsubstantiated, untrue and untenable.

The claimant, Mrs. Opeyemi Adegboyega, had her three-month-old son taken into the custody of the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development for safekeeping while she underwent treatment for depression and schizophrenia. After her discharge, she was informed by the juvenile home that her baby had died and his body was at the hospital mortuary.

However, upon visiting the State Specialist Hospital, Adegboyega was told that no child's body had been deposited by the ministry. Dissatisfied and distressed, she initiated legal action against the Ondo State Government and the Ministry of Women Affairs.

“

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 declared that the disappearance of the child, Omoniyi Oluwaseun, was due to the negligent actions of the defendants. The judgment awarded N10 million in exemplary and aggravated damages, N15 million in general damages for the "excruciating pain, anguish, personal loss, psychological trauma and persistent shock" suffered by the mother, and N200,000 for the costs of the action.

“

An order that the sum of N10 million be paid by the defendants to the claimant as exemplary and aggravated damages. An order that the sum of N15 million be paid by the defendants to the claimant as general damages for the excruciating pain, anguish, personal loss, psychological trauma and persistent shock suffered by the claimant and caused by the negligent act of the defendants. This court hereby grants an order that the sum of N200,000 be paid by the defendants to the claimant as costs of this action.