Court orders Ondo govt to pay N25m over missing infant in juvenile home

An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure has ordered the state government and the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development to pay N25 million in damages to a woman whose infant son disappeared while in the custody of a government-run juvenile home.

In a judgment delivered by Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay, the court held the state authorities liable for the disappearance of Mrs Opeyemi Adegboyega’s three-month-old son, Omoniyi Oluwaseun, who was placed in the care of the Ondo State Juvenile Home in 2017.

The child was reportedly handed over to the Ministry of Women Affairs while his mother received treatment for depression and schizophrenia at the state Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital.

According to court records, Adegboyega was informed after her discharge from the hospital that her son had died and that his remains had been deposited in a mortuary. However, upon making inquiries at the State Specialist Hospital, she was allegedly told that no corpse matching the child’s description had been received from ministry officials.

Dissatisfied with the explanation surrounding her son’s whereabouts, the claimant, through her counsel, Mr Oju Kekemeke, instituted legal action against the state government and the ministry.

In his ruling, Justice Osadebay rejected the defendants’ account of events, describing the evidence presented before the court as lacking credibility and support.

The judge noted that the government failed to provide any convincing documentation showing that the child died, sustained any injury, or was otherwise properly accounted for while under official custody.

The court further observed that there were no medical reports, mortuary records or burial documents to substantiate the claim that the infant had died.

Justice Osadebay held that the disappearance of the child from the juvenile home resulted from the negligence of the defendants.

The court declared that the claimant suffered severe emotional distress, personal loss and psychological trauma arising from the disappearance of her son while he was under the supervision of the Ministry of Women Affairs.

Consequently, the court awarded N10 million as exemplary and aggravated damages and N15 million as general damages for the emotional and psychological suffering endured by the claimant. It also awarded N200,000 as the cost of the suit.