Sylvester Oromoni: Police Slam Dowen College Parents For Obstructing Investigation

BY CHINYERE OBIORA – A senior Police officer, Bamidele Olusegun has blamed the parents of some Dowen College students for obstructing investigations into circumstances surrounding the death of a 12-year-old student of the school, Sylvester Oromoni.

Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP) Olusegun, who is with the Homicide Section of the Lagos State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Panti, Yaba, told an Ikeja Coroner’s Court on Tuesday that the said parents deliberately hindered the investigation by refusing to release their wards for interrogation.

Making submission as the Lead Investigating Officer of the case at the continuation of his cross-examination before the court, CSP Olusegun said three roommates of the deceased were not released by their parents, claiming the fear of trauma as being responsible for their actions.

The Police officer, who responded to a question from the Coroner, Mr Mikhail Kadiri, maintained that investigation into the death was ‘not comprehensive’ because the three roommates of the deceased were unavailable for questioning.

According to Olusegun; “Having not been able to interview the remaining three students, I can say the investigation was not comprehensive. There were four bunks of eight students in the deceased’s room and we (police) were given all the names of the roommates of the deceased.

“We, however, succeeded in interrogating four out of the seven roommates. This is because some of the parents said their children were going through trauma.”

However, when asked by counsel to Dowen College, Mr Anthony Kpokpo, how many students confirmed during interrogation that the deceased was beaten, CSP Olusegun said ‘None’, adding; “All the students at the police station said the alleged beating never happened.”

He also submitted that the death probe did not reveal anything suspicious against House Masters at Dowen College and the Police could therefore not hold them accountable for any wrongdoing

The ongoing Coroner inquest arose from allegations by the Oromoni family that their 12-year-old son died on November 30, 2021, from injuries sustained when five senior students of Dowen College battered him for refusing to join a cult.

Also, there were allegations that the late boy was forced to drink a substance by his attackers during the unfortunate incident.

But these allegations were disputed by the advice from the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions released on January 4, 2022, which stated that an autopsy revealed the cause of the student’s death as acute bacterial pneumonia due to severe sepsis.

Meanwhile, the coroner has adjourned proceedings until February 28, 2022, for continuation of the case. – With NAN reports