Court Awards N25m Damages Against Ondo Over Child’s Disappearance

An Ondo State High Court in Akure has ordered the state government to pay N25 million in damages to Mrs Opeyemi Adegboyega following the disappearance of her son from a government-run juvenile home.

The suit was instituted after the child reportedly went missing while under the care of a facility supervised by the Ondo State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development.

The claimant, who was receiving treatment at the state neuropsychiatric hospital several years ago, had temporarily handed over her three-month-old baby to the ministry to enable her continue medical care.

After her discharge, Adegboyega visited the juvenile home to reclaim the child but was allegedly informed that the boy had died and that his remains had been deposited at a government hospital morgue.

However, inquiries at the State Specialist Hospital reportedly revealed that no infant’s corpse had been deposited there, prompting the mother to seek legal redress through her counsel, Oju Kekemeke.

In his judgment, Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay held that the explanations offered by the defendants were not credible, describing their evidence as unsubstantiated and unacceptable.

The court further ruled that the disappearance of the child, identified as Omoniyi Oluwaseun, resulted from the negligence of the state government and the Ministry of Women Affairs, which had custody of him at the time.

Consequently, the court awarded N10 million as exemplary and aggravated damages, N15 million as general damages for the emotional and psychological trauma suffered by the mother, and an additional N200,000 as the cost of the suit.