Re: Father of boy found dead in hotel room wants IG’s intervention
Our story, by Jonaith Hotel, Ajah in reaction
to the story published on Friday, November
20, 2015.
THE said Michael Afeso checked into the
hotel on the night of Friday, October 23,
2015. The room he checked into had
earlier been reserved for him by one of
his friends, who checked in earlier the
same day. His friends who were with
him that night confirmed that on arrival
at the hotel, the deceased sat out with
them at the pool bar where they all had
drinks together before retiring to his
hotel room to meet his girlfriend, which
he said was being expected.
At about 12.15pm the next day, one of
the hotel’s house-keepers who was
carrying out their routine clean-up at
the check-out time tapped on the
deceased’s door but did not get any
response. He felt probably the deceased
would later call the Front Desk for an
extension of his stay. He checked again
at about an hour later and discovered
that the room was still locked. At about
2pm, the House-Keeper said he walked
up to the Front Desk officers to confirm
if the occupant of that particular room
had checked or called them but got a
negative response. At that juncture, he
felt compelled to get the master key from
the Front-Desk with a view to accessing
the room. He said he got into the room
to discover the lifeless body of the
deceased still lying on the bed.
The attention of the management of the
Hotel was quickly drawn to the matter.
Almost immediately, the management
reported the matter both to the Ajah
Divisional Police Headquarters and the
Area “J” Command. Officers of the
Division led by one Supol Owoseni
moved into the Hotel. The officers duly
questioned some members of staff, took
pictures of the incidence room, took
their time to watch CCTV footages that
same night and thereafter, moved the
corpse to the morgue at the Mainland
Hospital, Yaba.
Curiously, a manager and a chef in the
hotel were picked up for further
questioning by the police. This was in
spite of the fact that there was no
scintilla of complicity on the part of the
hotel and above all, the food that was
served by the chef was not even opened
by the deceased. Moreso, the CCTV
footage that covered the deceased never
indicated a foul play. At a point, the IT
Room of the hotel became a beehive of
activities as both the police and
members of the deceased’s family along
with their lawyer were jointly visiting to
view CCTV footages.
All efforts to effect the release of the
members of staff of the hotel who were
picked up for questioning were abortive
as the Ajah Division firmly maintained
that investigations were still
inconclusive. However, the matter was
eventually transferred to the State CID,
Panti, Yaba around October 29, 2015. An
investigating team led by one Supol Tony
with Mr. John Babalola as IPO again
visited the hotel and interrogated all
members of staff they considered
relevant to the investigation.
At a point, the lawyer representing the
deceased’s family became convinced that
the hotel had no hand in the death of Mr.
Afeso. He even requested that the hotel
assists the bereaved family financially.
However, the lawyer representing the
hotel advised the other party to be
patient in view of the fact that releasing
any sum of money to the deceased’s
family at the time may send wrong
signals to the public.
After spending about two weeks in an
unjustifiable detention, the hotel
manager and chef were reluctantly
released by the police, who were
becoming convinced of the hotel’s
innocence. About three days later, the
police informed the hotel management
that an autopsy had been carried out
and the result showed that the deceased
died of heart failure.
It is imperative to point out that there
was no point at which the hotel was
uncooperative in the course of the
investigation. It is also maliciously
untrue as reported in some quarters that
it was after the police and a lawyer were
brought in that the hotel was “compelled
to show the video recording of the
CCTV.”
Both the police and the lawyer
representing the deceased’s family will
always, in good conscience, attest to the
fact that the hotel did not only on their
own volition informed all concerned
parties that it has CCTV that could help
in the investigation but also optimally
cooperated in the course of the
investigation.
Also heavily mischievous is the claim by
one writer who clearly has a knack for
playing to the gallery that an attempt
was made to edit the footages and that
the hotel manager denied the claim that
somebody passed on in the hotel room. It
is absurd to imagine that the same hotel
that reported the incident will be the one
that will deny same in another breathe.
The article does not only reek of mischief
designed to cast aspersion on the image
of the hotel but also underscores the
depth of the writer’s junk journalism.
The allusion to overtures that the hotel
caters for the burial ceremonies is a
figment of the imagination of the writer.
It is noteworthy that in the afternoon of
Thursday, November 19, 2015, the
lawyer representing the deceased’s
family informed the lawyer to the hotel
that the remains of the deceased will be
interred on Friday, November 20, and
inquired if the hotel was willing to assist
the family of the deceased. The hotel’s
lawyer noted that albeit the information
was rather sudden but that he will
nonetheless ensure that the hotel shows
some “concern.”
It is expedient to point out that Jonaith
Hotels & Suites is and remains an
exquisite world of royalty and ambiance
in a very secured environment.
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