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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The management of Chrisland School have been granted leave by Magistrate Olabisi Fajana to have access to the toxicology samples of tests conducted on Whitney Adeniran, a student of the school who died on February 9, 2023, during the school’s inter-house sports activities at the Agege Sports Stadium, to enable an independent forensic pathologist’s assessment and evaluation.
The order was issued at the Coroner inquest held on Tuesday, April 4, at the Samuel Ilori Court House, Ikeja District Court 13, in Ogba.
The Magistrate affirmed that the application for an independent review was served on both the state and the counsel to Adeniran’s family, adding that neither the family nor their counsel filed any counter-affidavit to oppose the motion for an independent re-evaluation to unravel the truth.
Counsel to Lagos State, Akin George, had earlier applied that the court should order the attendance of the state pathologist at the cost of the applicant, which the applicant did not object to.
With both the family and Chrisland school’s counsel aligning on this position, the court directed that the consultation by the independent forensic pathologist be carried out within Lagos State and the pathologist of the deceased’s family granted access as an observer during the exercise.
Recall that the state government had on February 13 ordered a coroner’s inquest to establish the cause of Whitney’s death.
On March 2, the state government announced that the autopsy carried out revealed that Whitney died as a result of Asphyxia and electrocution.
The coroner’s inquest was then fixed for April 4 to commence the hearing.
But on April 3, the school sought an order from the court to be supplied with and have access to some items from the Chief Medical Examiner of the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital or a relevant officer to enable the school to consult with an independent pathologist.