Whitney Adeniran: Father recounts how daughter died

Lagos State Government presented crucial evidence on Thursday in the ongoing trial of four staff members from Chrisland Schools, who have been charged with involuntary manslaughter and reckless negligent acts in the death of 12-year-old student Whitney Adeniran.

The prosecution tendered three documents before an Ikeja High Court: a medical report from Agege Central Hospital, another medical report from Inland Hospital in Lagos, and a printout of a conversation screenshot from a Snapchat group named “Lagos Housewives.”

Whitney Adeniran tragically collapsed and died during the school’s inter-house sports event held at Agege Stadium on February 9. The defendants in the case, Ademoye Adewale, Kuku Fatai, Belinda Amao, and Victoria Nwatu, have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The father of the deceased, Mr. Adeyemi Adeniran, took the stand as a witness, and the state Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Dr. Babajide Martins, led him in providing his testimony. Mr. Adeniran recounted the events leading up to his daughter’s untimely demise.

According to Mr. Adeniran, his daughter left their home on February 9 in good health to participate in the school’s inter-house sports event. Although his wife attended the event, she was not informed about their daughter being taken to the hospital following the incident.

Narrating the sequence of events, Mr. Adeniran said, “My wife called me and said she was told that Whitney slumped and had been rushed to a hospital. She said that the principal of the school told her that Whitney was already coming up before she left to the hospital.”

Alarmed by the news, he instructed his wife to check on their daughter at the hospital and inform him if needed.

Approximately ten minutes later, Mr. Adeniran received another call from his wife, who urged him to go to Agege Central Hospital. He promptly left his tasks and made his way to the hospital, though he encountered difficulty locating the facility since it was not marked on Google Maps.

When he eventually arrived, he spotted his wife standing by the roadside, signaling him to stop. He exited the vehicle and left the engine running so they could swiftly transport Whitney to their family hospital in Ogudu.

Mr. Adeniran mentioned that his wife advised him to enter the hospital and pray for their daughter, hoping she would wake up. However, upon entering a small room, he discovered his daughter’s lifeless body on a table.

Initially assuming she had been given an injection and was asleep, Mr. Adeniran attempted to wake her by lifting her and calling out to her.

He said, “I prayed but nothing happened. I shouted, I tapped her severally, nothing happened. I asked for the doctor of the facility. I knelt down before the doctor to do whatever she could to wake my daughter up, but she responded that there is nothing she could do.”

The doctor informed him that Whitney had arrived at the hospital already deceased.

Returning to the room where his daughter’s body lay, Mr. Adeniran found the school nurse still present. Seeking clarification about what had transpired, he inquired with the nurse, who informed him that Whitney had collapsed.

The nurse disclosed that his daughter had died at the stadium before being transported to the hospital, but she refrained from officially pronouncing her dead as she was not a medical doctor.

During his testimony, Mr. Adeniran revealed that the doctor subsequently requested a private conversation with him.

The doctor, joined by the principal and the school nurse, dissuaded him from conducting an autopsy and urged him to expedite Whitney’s burial instead. Disturbed by the suggestion, Mr. Adeniran questioned why he should rush his daughter’s burial without knowing the cause of her death.

The doctor attempted to dissuade him by emphasizing the costs and emotional pain associated with an autopsy, but Mr. Adeniran asserted, “What pain is worse than the death of a child?”

Determined to uncover the truth, Mr. Adeniran embarked on his own investigation into the cause of his daughter’s demise. It was during this process that his wife discovered activity on Whitney’s phone, albeit locked with a password.

With the help of his sister-in-law, they accessed the phone and found messages in a Snapchat group called “Lagos Housewives.”

Some students had sent messages stating that they knew the school wouldn’t reveal the truth to parents.

One student claimed, “We were there, and we saw what happened. She was electrocuted.” Another message described witnessing Whitney near the candy machine on an iron rail, which emitted a strong electric shock, causing her to fall to the ground and foam at the mouth. The sender also mentioned a person attempting to douse her with water.

Mr. Adeniran connected the information from the messages to his daughter’s physical appearance when he saw her lifeless body at the clinic, noting her black lips and tongue. Expressing his suspicion that electrocution might be the cause, he refuted the principal’s claim of a possible heart attack as the reason behind Whitney’s death.

The judge adjourned the case until June 1 to allow for the continuation of the cross-examination of Mr. Adeniran.