An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure has ordered the state government and its Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development to pay N25 million in damages to Mrs Opeyemi Adegboyega over the disappearance of her infant son while in the custody of a government-run juvenile home.
The claimant had approached the court after her three-month-old son, Omoniyi Oluwaseun, reportedly went missing in 2017 while under the care of the Ondo State Juvenile Home. The child had been placed in the facility while she received treatment for depression and schizophrenia at the state Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital.
According to court records, the child was taken into the custody of the Ministry of Women Affairs to allow the mother access to medical care.
However, about a month later, officials allegedly informed her that the baby had died and that his remains had been deposited in a mortuary.
Dissatisfied with the explanation, Adegboyega visited the State Specialist Hospital to verify the claim, but was allegedly told that no such corpse had been deposited in the facility’s morgue by government officials.
She subsequently filed a suit through her counsel, Mr Oju Kekemeke, seeking redress over the circumstances surrounding the child’s disappearance.
Delivering judgment, Justice Oluyemi Akintan Osadebay described the evidence presented by the defendants as “unbelievable, unconscionable, unsubstantiated, untrue and untenable.”
The judge held that there was no credible documentation to show that the child died, suffered any injury, or was properly accounted for while in government custody. The court also faulted the absence of medical, mortuary and burial records to support the state’s claims.
Justice Osadebay ruled that the disappearance of Omoniyi Oluwaseun from the Ondo State Juvenile Home under the supervision of the Ministry of Women Affairs was caused by the negligent acts of the defendants.
“The court hereby declares that the claimant 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 Ministry of Women Affairs,” the judge stated.
The court consequently awarded N10 million as exemplary and aggravated damages, N15 million as general damages for emotional and psychological trauma, and N200,000 as cost of action.
Reacting to the judgment, the claimant’s counsel, Mr Oju Kekemeke, described the ruling as courageous and humane, saying it reinforced accountability and the sanctity of life.