An Ondo State High Court sitting in Akure has ordered the state government to pay ₦25 million in damages to a woman whose infant son allegedly went missing while in the custody of a state-run juvenile home.
Delivering judgment, Justice Oluyemi Osadebay described the defence presented by the government as “unbelievable, unconscionable, unsubstantiated, untrue and untenable,” holding that the evidence failed to justify the circumstances surrounding the child’s disappearance.
The claimant, Mrs Opeyemi Adegboyega, had approached the court after her three-month-old son, Omoniyi Oluwaseun, went missing while she was undergoing medical treatment at the Ondo State Neuropsychiatric Hospital for mental health challenges.
Court documents showed that the child had been taken into the custody of the Ondo State Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development, which oversees the juvenile home, to allow the mother receive treatment as an outpatient.
However, upon her discharge a month later, Adegboyega said she was informed at the juvenile home that her baby had died and his body had been deposited at a hospital mortuary.
Doubting the explanation, she reportedly visited the State Specialist Hospital where officials told her no such body had been received from the Ministry of Women Affairs.
Following the conflicting accounts, she filed a suit against the Ondo State Government and the Ministry of Women Affairs, alleging negligence and failure of duty of care.
In its ruling, the court found the government liable, stating that the claimant suffered severe emotional and psychological trauma due to the incident.
Justice Osadebay held: “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 ₦10 million as exemplary and aggravated damages and ₦15 million as general damages for emotional distress, bringing the total compensation to ₦25 million. It also awarded ₦200,000 as the cost of the legal action.
The judgment further stated: “An order is hereby made that the defendants shall pay the claimant the sum of ₦10 million as exemplary and aggravated damages,” and “₦15 million as general damages for the anguish and psychological trauma suffered.”
The court also ordered the state government to bear the cost of the suit.
The case has drawn attention to accountability and record-keeping within state-run child welfare institutions, especially those handling vulnerable children under government care.
