1st March, 2024
By Adenike Ayodele
Mrs Blessing Adeniran, the mother of the 12-year-old Chrisland student, Whitney Adeniran, who died during the school inter-house sports competition, has said that her family doctor did not tell her that the deceased had any medical condition.
Adeniran said this on Friday before Justice Oyindamola Ogala of the Ikeja High Court during the continuation of the cross-examination by Chrisland counsel, Mr Ajibola Ariba, who held the brief for Mr Bolaji Ayorinde (SAN).
According to her, the family doctor told her that her daughter could be having anxiety due to the upcoming examination.
She said anxiety means panic and it is not a medical condition as anybody could be anxious.
Ariba further presented the court with a video footage showing the witness speaking with visitors, including actresses Yvonne Jegede and Bimbo Thomas, who paid her condolence visits.
He told the court that in the video, Adeniran was captured narrating to her guests who paid her a condolence visit an incident when her husband held her daughter and tried to pet her to sleep after she had woken up and prepared for school at 1.00 a.m.
The witness confirmed to the court that she was the one captured in the video which had earlier been uploaded to the Internet after it was played back to her.
The counsel, thereafter, tendered it and it was admitted in evidence following no objections from the Director of Public Prosecutions, Dr Babajide Martins and other defence counsel.
The witness told the court that the inter-house sports competition took place in Agege because the school asked parents to come to the stadium as the venue for the sport activities.
Ariba, thereafter, informed the court that he was done with his cross-examination of the witness.
The prosecution also informed the court of bringing four other witnesses to testify.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Lagos State Government, on March 31, 2023, charged Chrisland Schools, its principal and vice principal and two others with the killing of the student.
The 12-year-old student was allegedly electrocuted on Feb. 9, 2023, during the school’s inter-house sports competition at the Agege Stadium, Lagos State.
Those charged alongside the school are Ademoye Adewale (a cotton candy vendor), Kuku Fatai, Belinda Amao (Principal) and Victoria Nwatu.
Ogala adjourned the matter to March 11 for continuation of trial.