Dennis Erezi
Commotion broke out at an Ondo State High Court sitting in Oka, Ondo town, headquarters of the Ondo West Local Council of the state, after a yet-to-be-identified man slumped and died in the courtroom.
The deceased, who was said to be in his late 70s, allegedly accompanied his friend to the court to stand as a witness in an ongoing case.
According to eyewitnesses who were at the scene of the incident, everyone was seated in the courtroom waiting for the judge when the man suddenly slumped.
One of the eyewitnesses, who is a staff member of the court, disclosed that the man, who appeared healthy, suddenly slumped without colliding with anything and died immediately.
She said: “The man was in court with his friend. And suddenly, he stood up where he was seated and fell down, hitting his head on the tiles, and he passed on.
“He didn’t look like someone who was sick, and he did not collide with anything or anybody that we may say was the cause of his death.”
Another source within the court, who identified himself as Tunde Ariyo, noted that the court clerk and some litigants in the court made efforts to get an ambulance and the police at the Enu-Owa police division to evacuate the remains of the man to the mortuary.
When contacted, the police at the Enu-Owa Police Division confirmed the incident and said the case would be transferred to the command’s headquarters in Akure, the state capital.
