The management of Chrisland Schools in Lagos have been granted approval to conduct an independent autopsy on Whitney Adeniran, a 12-year-old late pupil of the school, who d!ed in controversial circumstances during the school’s inter-house sports held at the Agege stadium in Lagos on February 9.
The approval was granted on Tuesday, April 4 by Magistrate Olabisi Fajana, the coroner inquiring into the cause of d€ath of Ms. Adeniran.
The school had approached the coroner to seek permission to access some items obtained from the corpse of the deceased. The school said this will enable it to consult with the independent forensic pathologist and to allow the consultant to testify accurately on his findings before the court.
In an application filed by its counsel, Olukayode Enitan (SAN), the school told the coroner that the request was made because its representative pathologist, Olugbenga Oyewole, only attended the initial autopsy carried out by the government as an observer and did not carry out any tests or dealt with any samples. When the appeal was made, both counsel to the Lagos state government, Akin George, and that of the Adenirans, Femi Falana (SAN), did not object to the application.
Counsel to the Lagos state government however applied orally that the court should order that the State Pathologist must be in attendance during the consultation as an observer at the cost of the Applicant. The counsel to the deceased’s family aligned with the submissions made by the State.
The items ordered to be released to the applicant are the paraffin block of the skin sample and slides from which the diagnosis of electrocution was made, the samples of the urine, blood, and other body fluid collected at autopsy, samples of bone and muscle taken from the deceased for independent DNA analysis. Other items are all photographs taken during the conduct of the autopsy, copies of any other working samples and documents made in the course of the autopsy, and the result of all toxicology tests conducted.