The hearing of the coroner inquest into the death of 12-year-old Whitney Adeniran, a pupil of Chrisland School Lagos State, has been scheduled to begin on April 4th. The date was set by Magistrate Olabisi Fajana after hearing submissions from all the counsels who appeared before the court in Ikeja.
During the hearing, Femi Falana (SAN), counsel to the deceased’s family, informed the court that they were unable to file a witness statement as directed due to the magistrates’ registry’s refusal to process the statement’s enrolment.
Both the counsel for Chrisland School, Olukayode Enitan (SAN), and the state counsel, Akin George, corroborated Falana’s position, seeking the court’s directive on how to get their processes filed. The magistrate promised to get directives from the chief magistrate on how to ensure that the processes were filed before the coroner.
During the hearing, Chrisland School’s counsel informed the court that they had an application before the court to obtain samples and materials to carry out an independent evaluation of the autopsy report.
However, Falana said they had not been served and informed the court that the autopsy was carried out in the presence of the school’s representatives and other concerned parties. The state counsel, George, said that the state received a letter, not an application and that the state would respond at the appropriate time.
The magistrate advised all counsels to ensure that their processes were filed and confirmed on April 3rd and then adjourned the case to April 4th for the start of the trial. Whitney Adeniran died of electrocution, as determined by an autopsy.
