By Seyi Odewale
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana yesterday faulted the coroner’s ruling on the cause of death of the 12-year-old student of Dowen College, Lekki, Sylvester Oromoni, which blamed the parents and the doctor for the young lad’s death.
The Coroner Inquest sitting in Ogba Magistrate Court, Lagos State, had ruled that the death of Sylvester Junior Oromoni blamed the death of the lad on his parents’ and doctor’s negligence.
The Coroner, Magistrate, Mikhail Kadiri, in his findings, said Oromoni’s parents and doctor failed to treat the young lad for his enlarged liver. Oromoni died on November 30, 2021.
Oromoni’s death was attributed to bullying by his seniors and an alleged poisonous substance forced on him to drink at school.
The late boy was said to have mentioned that he was beaten up by five senior students of Dowen College whose names were Favour Benjamin, 16, Edward Begue (16), Ansel Temile (14) Kenneth Inyang, and Micheal Kashamu, 16, son of late Senator, Buruji Kashamu, before he died.
The incident led to an indefinite closure of the school despite its denial and the insistence that the boy had complained of leg pain, following an injury sustained while playing football.
Meanwhile, the Lagos State Commissioner of Police ordered a full-scale investigation into the incident.
However, on January 5, 2022, the Lagos State government exonerated the five students and other five staffers of Dowen College, accused of killing Oromoni, who was buried two years later at the family’s compound in Ogbe-Ijoh, Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State.
Kadiri said: “Based on the foregoing it is clear that the deceased’s health deteriorated in (doctor) PW 3’s care.
“PW 3, did not take proper care of the deceased, PW 3, completely abandoned the deceased for a period of more than 32 hours.
“The deceased’s death was an avoidable one but for the negligence of the parents and PW 3, they didn’t take him to the hospital until the day he died on November 30, 2021.
“The deceased went through an avoidable and excruciating pain and was made to suffer needlessly,” Kadiri added.
Femi Falana, however, faulted the ruling of Magistrate Kadiri, which exonerated Dowen College and blamed the death of the deceased on the negligence of the family doctor.
Reacting shortly after the ruling, Falana said: “It is curious that the coroner ignored the evidence of the government pathologist that the “black substance” found in the stomach of the deceased was not subjected to toxicological examination.
His statement further read: “In his lengthy ruling delivered today, Magistrate Mikhail Kadiri, the Coroner who investigated the unfortunate death of Master Sylvester Oromoni Jnr., a 12-year-old student of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos exonerated the authorities of Dowen College and blamed the unfortunate death of the deceased on the negligence of the family doctor.
“It is curious that the coroner ignored the evidence of the government pathologist that the “black substance” found in the stomach of the deceased was not subjected to toxicological examination. The allegation was that the deceased was forced to drink a poisonous substance.”
“The Acting Director of Public Prosecution of Lagos State at the material time had recommended that some staff and students be prosecuted for criminal negligence over the bullying of students in the school.
“Four days later, the Acting DPP turned around to say that there was no case to answer without any fresh evidence from the police investigators. The coroner ruled that the Acting DPP has the power to withdraw her recommendations at any time!
“The doctors who testified stated that the deceased died of sepsis and that the sepsis could have been caused by excessive massaging of the leg of the deceased. The coroner conveniently overlooked the fact that the school doctor and the nurses massaged the leg of the deceased for two days before inviting his parents to take him home.
“In an attempt to exonerate Dowen College, the coroner was silent on the overwhelming evidence of the bullying of the deceased, his sister, and other students by the same set of students. In particular, the coroner discountenanced the evidence of a student who had testified that he saw the deceased beaten up and subjected to torture by a group of senior students.
“In spite of such uncontradicted evidence, the coroner said that the deceased died of natural causes. The coroner claimed that the negligence of the family doctor led to the death of the deceased but failed to refer him to the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria for appropriate sanctions.”
In a judgment that lasted over 6 hours, the coroner said the deceased died a natural death while also holding that the death was however avoidable as the negligence of the parents and the medical team also contributed to it.
Magistrate Kadiri absolved some students of Dowen College named in the incident as he concluded that they played no part in the death of Sylvester and should not have been involved in the matter.
