Blessing Adeniran, the mother of the late Whitney Adeniran, who was a student of Chrisland school, has told an Ikeja High Court that she did not check the toxicity levels of the anxiety drugs her daughter took.
In her testimony, on Wednesday, as the prosecution’s second witness, Blessing said she oversaw her daughter’s intake of the drugs, Nitrazepam 5mg and Amitriptyline 12.5mg after a doctor prescribed them as medication for her daughter’s difficulty in breathing on January 20, 2023.
Blessing said, “I was responsible for administering the medication,” and that “it lasted for only a few days.”
The mother of the deceased, a businesswoman, told the court that the late Whitney received the medication from the family hospital, Inland Specialist Hospital, as treatment following a call she received from Chrisland that her daughter had difficulty breathing in school.
The Lagos State Government brought charges on March 31, 2023, against Chrisland School Ltd., Opebi, and its principal, vice principal and two others for the death of Whitney.
Whitney, aged 12-year-old, died of an alleged electrocution on February 9, 2023, during an Inter-house sports competition that was held at the Agege Stadium, Lagos State.
The defendants were arraigned before Justice Oyindamola Ogala.
The Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Babajide Martin, led the witness, Blessing, in examination and when he asked the witness about her daughter’s health at the period, she replied that she met Whitney playing a mobile game on her father, Michael Adeniran’s phone.
During her cross-examination of Blessing, the counsel to the first defendant, Bimpe Ajegbomogun, queried the witness on how long she gave the anxiety drugs to her late daughter but the witness replied that she could not remember when Whitney finished the medication.
While carrying out his cross-examination of the witness, the counsel to the second defendant, Richard Ahonaruogho SAN, asked the witness whether she knew what the panic/ anxiety drugs her daughter was made up of.
The witness replied in the negative.
Ahonaruogho asked the witness whether she knew that the Nitrazepam drug is used for treating panic disorder, extreme anxiety and insomnia while the Amitriptyline drug is classified as an antidepressant and queried her on why she did not ask the doctor what those drugs were capable of.
The counsel to the second defendant told the witness that on the strength of his investigation, a combination of both drugs is a death sentence.
The witness replied, “I don’t know.”
During the cross-examination, both counsel for the first and second defendants questioned the validity of the witness’s testimony that she saw online chatter from a Chrisland school Snapchat group named “Housewives of Lagos” when she and her husband, Michael, accessed the smartphone of their deceased daughter.
Earlier, the witness testified that she saw messages from the Snapchat group where some students allegedly accused the school of covering up the true cause of Whitney’s death.
The judge, Ogala, adjourned to January 25 for the continuation of cross-examination.
Earlier on January 22, the father of the deceased, Michael, told the court that it was the school nurse who informed him that his daughter was already dead before she was taken to the hospital.
The witness said the school nurse told him that his deceased daughter’s eyes were already dilated, but she could not medically confirm Whitney’s death because she was not a doctor.
