Crime

Alleged Negligence: 13-Year-Old Student Drags Baptist School To Court, Demands N2.1bn

Published

3 years ago

Jan 24, 2022.

A 13-year-old student has dragged Baptist school to court and demanded N2.1bn over alleged negligence.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that a 13-year-old student, Tejumade Davies, has dragged the Baptist High School, Abuja, to a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Jabi over alleged negligence which led to bodily injury he suffered while in boarding.

It was gathered that Davies is a Junior Secondary School 3 student of Baptist High School at Nigerian Baptist Convention Ground in Kubwa, Abuja.

The teenager in the suit filed on his behalf by his guardian, Dada Davies was specifically claiming the total sum of N2.1 billion from the school as compensation for the cost of medical treatment, cost of instituting legal action as well as exemplary/punitive damages.

Meanwhile, the trial judge of the court, Justice Babangida Hassan, has fixed March 9, 2022 for hearing.

A copy of the court processes was obtained by Journalists in Abuja on Sunday.

According to the claimant, in the suit marked CV/2437/2021, the school failed in its duty as “loco parentis” by not noticing or providing necessary care and attention to the teenager (who would be 14 years in May) after he fell and could no longer walk while participating in the school’s Physical and Health Education Practical Examination for the Basic Education Certificate Examination 2020/2021 academic session.

The fall and the alleged neglect of the school to either informed his parents or provide urgent medical attention, according to the plaintiff, resulted in him suffering what doctors called “Slipped Upper Femoral Epiphysis (SUFE)” on his right leg and”Prophylactic Pinning-in-situ” on the left.

Davies in the suit filed by his lawyer, Arinze Obetta, said problem started on July 5, 2021, when the student was asked to participate in a 100 meters race, despite a reported health challenge.

In a witness statement on oath, deponent and mother of claimant, Mrs. Sandra Davies alleged that but for the defendant’s negligence, her son would not have participated in the said Physical and Health Education Practical Examination, which resulted in physical and psychological injury, suffering, pain and monetary expenses.

The deponent claimed she had earlier informed some members of staff of the school of claimant’s health condition after they noticed he was limping during the second term holidays of 2020/2021 session.

According to her, they had taken her son to a Hospital in the Wuse Area of Abuja, where Doctors, after treatment, advised that he should not be allowed to stress his right leg.

She added that the information was not only passed to his House Master but also information that the drugs to be administered on him were handed over to the Matron (Head Nurse of the school) for proper administration.

She however lamented that all the instructions were ignored by the school while senior students were also allowed to punish the young Davies by asking him to do “frog jump” despite his health condition.

The deponent in addition accused the school of not showing concern about the plight of claimant even when the new claimant was taken straight from the school to the hospital where he was later operated on his two legs, adding that they only called after a friend to the claimant’s father who introduced them to the school called ” to condemn the negligent manner in which the defendant school was handling claimant’s case”.

The deponent while stressing that her son has sustained injury from the fall due to pain, emotional and psychological torture, future loss of earning capacity, as a result of defendant’s negligence, stated that the boy was also on the verge of being permanently disabled should anything happens to his cartilage bone, a condition that was said to be beyond what medical science can handle.

The plaintiff is therefore demanding the sum of N1. 7 million being the cost of medical treatment, another N5 million as cost of instituting the legal action.

The claimant is further demanding another sum of N1 billion as general damages for the physical and psychological injury, suffering, future losses and expenses, future loss of earning capacity, and pain of the claimant owing to the negligence of the defendant and N500 million as exemplary/punitive damages.

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