Morgue proprietor, staff in trouble for disposing corpse

From Jimoh Ahmed, Owo
|
A nurse and proprietor of a private morgue in Owo, Ondo State, Chief Oladejo Edubi and his mortuary attendant, Samuel Oluwatodimu have hit trouble for disposing off the corpse of a woman kept in their morgue without the  family’s consent.

The two accused persons were  docked on a three-count charge before an Owo Magistrate, for allegedly cutting into pieces and throwing the corpse of Olori Rebecca Olasehinde Ogunoye into river Osse without the family’s consent.

According to the charge sheet, the duo conducted themselves in a manner likely to cause a breech of public peace by their acts and committed an offence contrary to Laws of Ondo State.

When the case was read to the accused persons, the two of them pleaded not guilty to all the three counts.

Police prosecutor, Inspector Edu Owolabi, told the court that he would be relying on the evidences of four witnesses in the matter and applied for an adjournment because of the COVID- 19 pandemic which the defence did not oppose.

Equally, he made two applications for the temporary closure of Adeyemi Clinic where the morgue was situated and for the clinic to submit the comprehensive list of the corpses in the Morgue and also to stop taking in new  corpses into the morgue.

Edu claimed that the continued opening of the clinic might lead to mayhem in the community as the youths of the place had earlier mobilised to burn it down.

The defence counsel to the two accused person, Ozase Uwadia opposed the application saying it will make life difficult for the proprietor and many others and even to the corpses there, who are under good and proper management.

However, Ozase Uwadia applied for the bail of the accused persons since the presumption of innocence is still running in their favour.

The defence counsel assured the court that their bail will not interfere with police investigation and that they will not jump bail and will always come to court to take their case.

Prosecution did not oppose the bail application.

The Court which was presided over by Mrs Olubunmi Winifred Dosunmu, granted the accused persons N200,000.00 bail each and one surety in like sum.

Similarly, the court ordered that no new corpse should be taken into the morgue while a comprehensive list of corpses in the morgue must be forwarded to the court registrar.

The case was adjourned till June 10, 2020.