The Sylvester Oromoni case is awaiting the coroner’s report after a 16-month-long court hearing.
Oromoni, a student of Dowen College, died on November 30, 2021, after an alleged attack by five colleagues.
His parents claimed the deceased boy confessed before his death that he was beaten and force-fed a chemical.
The Lagos school denied the claim and countered that the boy suffered injuries while playing football with friends.
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An autopsy initially declared that Oromoni died of “acute lung injury due to chemical intoxication” but the result was later discredited in favour of the claim that only the bereaved family witnessed the post-mortem procedure.
The Department of Public Prosecution (DPP) in Lagos released a second result ruling that Oromoni died naturally.
The case has been in court since 2022, with the bereaved vowing to pursue the matter up to the apex court.
A source close to the family tells TheCable that the bereaved parties are “deeply concerned” about what they allege to be a “deliberate delay tactic” in the coroner’s inquest to frustrate the family into giving up their pursuit of justice.
The family source argued that “it is taking unreasonably long” for the magistrate to release the report of the coroner court’s findings on the death of the 12-year-old following what the source already describes as an exhaustive probe.
The report, the source said, is to contain both the findings from the court’s investigation and its recommendations.
Taiwo Olawanle, a lawyer representing the claimant in the case, said all parties were expected to present their final written addresses after the court had a session that visited and reexamined what is believed to be the crime scene.
“The coroner has closed the case. The last thing was for us to visit the scene of the crime. We visited there on April 1. The next thing was for the parties to file final written address,” the lawyer at Falana & Falana Chambers said.
“This is to contain all evidence that has been led in court, the witnesses who testified, what they said, and when. We asked why the court was delaying but the registrar said the coroner wants to recall two student witnesses.
“And they said the students were writing WAEC exams. We’ve asked that the coroner should order the parties to file their final addresses. There’s no evidence you need all this while that you’ve not gotten to conclude this matter.”
As of when this report was filed, the coroner’s court is yet to communicate when the witnesses are to be in session.
In 2022, TheCable did a two-part series about unsolved student death cases and the frustrations of the bereaved.
