Tragedy struck over the weekend, when two kids were found dead inside a parked blue Nissan Primera car, at the Abesan Housing Estate, Ipaja.

The children, Timilehin Adewunmi, who celebrated his 4th birthday two days to the tragedy, and Olamide Ajibola, 3, were said to have locked themselves inside the car and suffocated to death.

P.M.News gathered that on the fateful day, the parents of the children, Mr. and Mrs. Gbenga Adewunmi, and Mr. and Mrs. Ajibola, had left the children in the former’s Block 305, Flat 4, residence, to attend the wedding of their neighbour, who resides at Flat 6 of the same block.

The two families left Timilehin and Olamide with Adewunmi’s first born, Toluwalase, 10, and went to the wedding at Mafoluku, Oshodi, oblivious to the danger lurking around the corner for their children.

pmcover-25-august-2008.jpg

A neighbour, Mrs. Joyce Abiandu, of Block 308, Flat 2, in Abesan Estate, had washed her blue Nissan Primera with registration number Lagos EA 685 EKY and parked it in her garage with the four doors opened, and went to sleep.

Investigations revealed that the playful children saw the car opened, entered and locked themselves in.

Narrating the incident to P.M.News, the father of one of the children, Mr. Gbenga Adewunmi, an administrator with FATMAK International Ltd., Ilupeju, said: “I went to my neighbour’s party with my wife and our only daughter, leaving Timilehin and my friend’s son, Olamide, with our eldest son, Toluwalase, and we returned to discover that the two children were missing.

“We organised a search party, but we could not find them. It was around the same time that my neighbour and family friend, Mrs. Abiandu, came out of her flat and was about to drive out when she discovered the dead bodies of the two kids at the back seat of her car. She quickly raised an alarm.

“I rushed to the scene and found my son in the car, carried him and discovered that he was stone dead, same with my friend’s son, who had only come to play with our son. I could not bear the sight, I ran and screamed,” Mr. Adewunmi narrated.

The case was immediately reported at the Ipaja Police Station (Alagolo), and Mrs. Abiandu, whose husband is in America, was arrested as the prime suspect.

As at the time of filing this report, Mrs. Abiandu was still in police custody, while the case file was being prepared for transfer to the SCID, Panti.

P.M.News gathered that the other couple (Olumide’s parents) have not been seen since the incident, as they were taken away by their relations. To make the matter worse, their phones have been switched off. Meanwhile, the bodies of the two kids have been deposited at the LASUTH Mortuary, Ikeja.

Pleading on behalf of the suspect in a chat with P.M.News, the father of Timilehin said: “Mrs. Abiandu is a good neighbour and she is not careless. Her son, David, and my son, Tolu, are classmates at Flourescent School. She should not be blamed.”

A similar incident occurred at Bodunrin Caulcrick Close, LSDPC Estate, Ogba, last year when three young girls died in a car parked in the estate. The girls, Success Solomon, 4; Aishatu Fofanah, 5 and Aishat Jakite, 3, were found dead in a car after a frantic search for one of them.

Findings revealed that the girls died as a result of suffocation, as they could not open the car, whose glasses were wound up by the owner who travelled to the United Kingdom nine months earlier.

4 Play:

So why is Mrs Abiandu in custody when the Adewunmis & the Ajibolas are free?

brownbonno:

Legal system attributes responsibilities to every person,in this case the Lady in custody is negligent and own a duty of care to secure her car against any unwarranted access without supervision.(if you carry a minor in your car without a set belt,if the police stops you,you will be given a fine because the minor is not wearing the belt).The parents of the late kids will only be charge if it can be established that they abandon the children to go their party.
Law is awkward in some situation that is why you see warning signs like,beware of Dogs,No trespass,Car park at owners risk.

coolier:

I don't understand this, the car belongs to the lady and was parked in her garage. She just washed it and left the doors open to dry. As much as I feel for these two poor kids(God bless their souls), are you saying Mrs Abiandu has no right to leave her car opened in her own garage? Or is it her responsibility to keep vigil and keep an eye on other kids while their parents are partying?

brownbonno:

Legal system attributes responsibilities to every person,in this case the Lady in custody is [b]negligent and own a duty of care to secure her car against any unwarranted access without supervision.([/b]if you carry a minor in your car without a set belt,if the police stops you,you will be given a fine because the minor is not wearing the belt).The parents of the late kids will only be charge if it can be established that they abandon the children to go their party.
Law is awkward in some situation that is why you see warning signs like,beware of Dogs,No trespass,Car park at owners risk.

I wonder where did you got your law degree from what kind of poor judgement is this.
Her car/ her proprietor, she can do whateva she likes with it
The parent are the ones at fault for living their kids unsupervised,which is called child negligent