Blessing Adeniran, the mother of late Whitney Adeniran, who was a student of Chrisland school, on Wednesday, told a Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja that she doesn’t know the function or toxicity level of the medication her daughter was using before she passed away.
She said this while giving her testimony as the second prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of Chrisland School Ltd., Opebi, and its principal, vice principal and two others instituted by the Lagos State Government over the death of Whitney.
In her testimony, 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.
“I was responsible for administering the medication and it lasted for only a few days,” she said.
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 Director of Public Prosecution, Babajide Martin, who led Blessing in the examination-in-chief asked about her daughter’s health at the period and she replied that she met Whitney playing a mobile game on her father, Michael Adeniran’s phone at the hospital.
During cross-examination by counsel to the first defendant, Bimpe Ajegbomogun, when she was asked how long she gave the anxiety drugs to her late daughter, she said she could not remember when Whitney finished the medication.
While carrying out his cross-examination, 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 and she 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 that a combination of both drugs is a death sentence, she said “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.
The case was adjourned till Thursday, January 25 for the continuation of cross-examination.
