Justice Oyindamola Ogala of the Lagos High Court, sitting in Ikeja, has adjourned proceedings in the trial over the death of Whitney Adeniran, a student of Chrisland Schools, Lagos, to December 11 for the continuation of the hearing.

Before the adjournment, Mr Wahab Ariyo, the fourth prosecution witness and an officer with the Lagos State Safety Commission, testified that his investigation did not establish that any of the defendants were responsible for the electricity at Agege Stadium, where the school held its inter-house sports competition.

Chrisland Schools and some of its staff are being tried for alleged negligence in the death of Whitney, who died during the sporting event.

Ariyo told the court that no evidence suggested Whitney died of electrocution, a conclusion he reached based on interrogation and photographs taken during the investigation. He added that his agency’s report on the cause of death was derived from their findings during an inspection of the stadium.

During cross-examination by Mr Olukayode Eniyan (SAN), counsel to the third defendant, Ariyo stated that Chrisland Schools was not present at the stadium on the day of his inspection but maintained that infractions were observed at the premises.

He said, “The report is a reflection of what we observed on the day of the inspection. In our report, a reassessment was said to have been conducted, but we were not there because we were not called upon.

“I am not aware that reassessments were conducted on January 13, 2023, and February 8, 2023. I do not know the role the third defendant played because I was not at the stadium on the day of the inter-house sports.

“The accident report was not presented to the Safety Commission before the final report was sent to the Ministry of Education.”

Ariyo admitted that he did not request the deceased student’s medical report nor visit her parents to obtain her medical history.

He said: “I did not, before now, see the medical report issued by Inland Specialist Hospital on the late Whitney. Our investigation did not indicate that the third defendant was responsible for electricity at the stadium, and none of the defendants were found to be in charge of electricity at the stadium.”