During a testimony on Monday before an Ikeja coroner’s court, a policeman, Bamidele Olusegun (CSP) revealed this during a hearing on the death of Sylvester Oromoni jr.
He disclosed that Dowen College was initially indicted in the first legal advice issued by the Lagos state Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on the death of the boy. He said the advice had recommended that the school and its staff should be prosecuted for alleged negligence.
The witness also said he received another legal advice dated January 4, which had exonerated Dowen College of involvement in Oromoni’s death.
The witness said he conducted a thorough investigation and was aware that the police had protested that they were not allowed to conclude their investigations on the case due to the issuance of the January 4 DPP advice.
Olusegun identified a copy of the protest letter written to the chief judge of Lagos state by the police shown to him by Falana.
A portion of the letter, read aloud by the witness in the court, stated that: “It came as a rude shock that the investigation was not allowed to be carried out.”
He also said the suspects were not brought back to the police station for the conclusion of the investigation.
“During the investigation, one of the suspects informed me that the deceased was bullied. Another one also told me that he was taken to the third floor to be tortured,” he said.
When asked if any of the suspects had informed him that the deceased was injured on November 14, 2021, Olusegun said he did not have any recollection.
The policeman told the inquest that the sister of the deceased told him that her late brother was also bullied sometime in October 2021 and that the boy who allegedly bullied him was not punished for the act.
“She also confirmed to me that they bullied her brother because they wanted him to described her private parts. I wouldn’t know the deceased was taken to the sickbay in October when he was bullied,” he said.
Olusegun confirmed during the cross-examination that a female parent had also reported that her son was bullied by some Dowen College students at the Maroko police station.
The case has been adjourned to the 22nd of February, 2022.
Oromoni died on November 30, 2021, from injuries alleged to have been sustained in an attack by five senior students of Dowen College who the family had claimed bullied the 12-year-old for refusing to join a cult.
His father had claimed he was attacked and fed a liquid chemical but the school countered the claim and alleged that the boy sustained injuries while playing football.
The Lagos state DPP’s advice released on January 4 also disputed the allegation, stating that an autopsy had revealed the cause of Oromoni’s death as acute bacterial pneumonia due to severe sepsis.
Source: The Cableng