Two mortuary attendants Arrested by Police in Ondo over missing newborn’s corpse

TWO mortuary attendants has been apprehended by Nigeria Police over the allegations of missing corpse of a newborn child and the placenta at the mortuary of Ondo State-owned specialist hospital in Akure, the state capital.

The report has It that the mother, Nike Owonidaun, and the baby died during labour on May 15, 2019 at the police hospital and were later transferred to the state own specialist hospital mortuary.

The husband of the deceased, Femi Owonidaun, a policeman, was said to have deposited the corpses at the hospital and left after proper documentation.

Meanwhile, on his returned to claim the corpses, only the mother was recovered while that of the baby was missing.

That led to pandemonium as the father of the baby raised the alarm and created a scene, he said his wife died at the Police Clinic in Akure after a Caesarian Section was carried out on her, without his knowledge and that the corpse of his baby had also suddenly disappeared. According to him, “materials used to wrap the lifeless body of the baby were found in the casket, but the baby’s corpse was nowhere to be found for the family to conduct the necessary burial rites. “After the death of my wife, I took her corpse, the baby and the placenta to the State Specialist Hospital. “They took the record of the deceased at the mortuary. When we came to the mortuary to pick the corpses for burial, the mortuary attendant could not produce the corpse of the baby and the placenta. “After washing the corpse of my wife, they put her in the casket without the baby and the placenta. We then asked for the corpse of the baby and the placenta. “They asked me if I wanted to see the corpses of both my wife, the baby and the placenta. They asked if I wasn’t afraid of the ghost of the dead. “We insisted that we wanted to see the remains of the baby because we cannot just leave him like that. We want to wrap him with a white cloth and give him a decent burial like his mother. “When we insisted, we then opened the casket only to find only my wife. It was at this point that we raised the alarm and staged a protest that they must produce both the baby’s corpse and placenta. “The State Commissioner of Health came here, checked the record and confirmed that we brought the woman, her son and placenta. The Commissioner for Health, Dr Wahab Adegbenro, said the matter has been referred to the State Police Command for investigation. Police image maker, Femi Joseph, confirmed that two of the mortuary attendants have been arrested and helping the Police. Joseph added that they ”have started talking and very soon we would unravel the mystery behind the disappearance of the corpse of the baby.”

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