Many could not hold back their tears as the video evidence of the last days of Sylvester Oromoni was played at the Coroner Court on Monday.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Coroner court has adjourned the testimony of the father of late Sylvester Oromoni (Junior), a pupil of Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos State till February 14.
Mr Oromoni’s testimony was adjourned following the failure of the prosecution to serve the documents sought to be tendered as evidence in the inquest.
The death of Sylvester Oromoni Jnr has garnered a lot of attention in the past few months after his family alleged that he died as a result of the beatings some of his seniors at Dowen College gave him.
The family maintained that the senior boys who they tagged “bullies” wanted Sylvester to join their cult, his refusal landed him the beating which led to his death.
However, management of Dowen College argued that the deceased only sustained injury from a football pitch.
Following this, a coroner inquest was set up to look into the circumstances surrounding the death.
At Monday’s proceedings, journalists and other members of the public were denied access into the courtroom when Sylvester’s sister, Amanda, wanted to testify before the coroner inquest.
Counsel for the Nigerian Bar Association, Bernard Oniga, raised the issue of the Child Rights Law of Lagos State concerning the testimony of the minor in an open court.
Oniga said, “This matter has been highly sensationalised. Any minor that so wishes to appear before it must be accorded some level of privacy because she still has a future ahead.”
On this note did Magistrate Mikhail Kadiri asked journalists and members of the public to exit the courtroom.
After the testimony of the deceased’s sister, Sylvester’s father was placed on oath to testify before the inquest.
However, when the family’s lawyer, Andrew Efole, informed the court of the documents he sought to tender in the evidence-in-chief of Oromoni’s senior, the defence lawyers objected to them on the grounds that they were not aware of the documents.
Efole stated that he could not serve the other parties because the officer in charge of the police legal unit did not provide him with the necessary documents on time.
In response to this, counsel representing one of the five pupils, Godwin Omoaka (SAN), said, “We are just seeing these documents for the first time; the defence counsel had them and did not give them to us. He also has videos to tender through this witness, but we have not had the privilege to view them.
“It is appropriate that we see this video and watch, otherwise we won’t be able to cross-examine the witness. While we do not object to their admissibility, we ask that the video be played in the open court before we begin with the witness.”
The counsel for Dowen College, Anthony Kokpo, also aligned himself with Omoaka that the video be played in court.
However, the counsel for the Lagos State Government, Akin George, said the ministry had made the documents available earlier.
Following this argument, Magistrate Kadiri adjourned till February 14 for the testimony of the deceased’s father to be taken.
He further ordered the family’s lawyer to serve the necessary documents on the other parties and adjourned the proceedings till Tuesday for the testimony of the pathologist.
The family’s lawyer intended to tender a flash drive containing the audio conversation between him and a father of one Afolabi, a Junior Secondary Student of Dowen College, and another audio conversation with Afolabi, who confirmed that the deceased was bullied because he heard him shouting and nobody was there to help.
However, in the video that was played in the courtroom, it was observed that the victim was carried away from the school on the arm of his brother’s friend on Tuesday, November 23, 2021.
In another video, Sylvester was being carried by two people at the laboratory while he groaned with pain after an X-ray was carried out on him.
Also presented in court was his school box that was allegedly damaged in the school.
The father of the deceased broke down in tears as he watched the video of his son groaning with pain.
