The Coroner’s Inquest set up by the Lagos State government to probe the circumstances which led to the death of the 12-year-old student of Chrisland International School, Whitney Adeniran, has fixed April 4 for the commencement of the hearing of the matter.
The Coroner, Magistrate Olabisi Fajana, sitting at the Magistrate’s Court sitting in Ogba, fixed the date after entertaining submissions from lawyers to all the parties on Monday.
The deceased died on February 9, 2023, during the school’s inter-house sports activities at the Agege Stadium.
At yesterday’s proceedings, the counsel to the deceased family, Femi Falana (SAN), informed the Coroner that he could not file a witness statement as instructed by the Magistrate at the last adjourned date.
Falana stated that the Magistrate Registry refused to process the enrolling of the witness statement because there is no provision for filling of Coroner processes on the e-filing platform.
He, therefore, urged Magistrate Fajana to give directives on the processes.
The lawyer, who represented Chrisland School, Olukayode Enitan (SAN) and the State Counsel, Akin George, also corroborated the position.
After listening to the lawyers, the Coroner informed them that she would get directives from the Chief Magistrate to ensure the processes were filed before the next sitting of the Inquest.
Also, during the proceedings, Enita told the magistrate that he had an application seeking to obtain samples and materials to evaluate the autopsy conducted on the deceased independently.
But Falana stated that he had not been served with a copy of the application and that the autopsy was done in the presence of the school representatives and other concerned parties.
However, the state counsel, Akin George, told the court that the state received a letter and not an application and that the state would respond at the appropriate time.
Magistrate Fajana adjourned to April 4 and advised all counsels to ensure their processes were filed and confirmed on April 3.
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