Sylvester Oromoni: Why Lagos govt cleared Dowen College students, staff

The Lagos State Government has exonerated five students and five employees of Dowen College who were earlier linked to the death of 12-year-old Sylvester Oromoni.

The students cleared by the state government are 16-year-old Favour Benjamin, Edward Begue (16), Ansel Temile (14), Kenneth Inyang (15), and 15-year-old Micheal Kashamu, the son of the late Senator Buruji Kashamu.

The officials acquitted include Celina Uduak, Valentine Igboekweze, Hammed Ayomo Bariyu, Adesanya Olusesan Olusegun, and one Adeyemi.

Also cleared of any involvement in the death of the 12-year-old student by the government was Kingsley Otuaro, the manager of the college located in the Lekki area of Lagos State.

The Lagos State Government further directed that all the suspects linked to the death of the 12-year-old boy who died on November 30, 2020, should be released if they are still in custody.

It was gathered that the accused were cleared by the state government following the Legal Advice of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Ms. Adetutu Oshinusi.

A copy of the legal advice was addressed to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID and the trial magistrate, Magistrate Olatunbosun Adeola.

According to the legal advice, the interim and final autopsy reports issued by the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital and toxicology report of post mortem samples and that of the Central Hospital, Warri in Delta State were in agreement as to the cause of death namely: Septicaemia, Lobar Pneumonia with Acute Pyelonephritis, Pyomyositis of the right ankle and Acute Bacteria Pneumonia due to severe Sepsis.

It added that: “The result of the toxicology is also not indicative of any toxic or poisonous substance in the body of the deceased.”

The DPP’s legal advice, therefore, concluded that based on these findings, there is “no prima facie case of murder, involuntary manslaughter and or malicious administering of poison with intent to harm against the five students.”

The advice further stated that “from available facts in the duplicate case file, the investigation carried out by the Police did not reveal that any secret society name, tattoo or insignia of any unlawful society was found in the possession of any of the suspects during the investigation carried out by the Police.

“To hold otherwise would amount to sniffing for an offence and a speculative act which is not permitted in law. It is trite law that suspicion no matter how grave cannot be a ground for conviction.”

It would be recalled that the 12-year-old Sylvester Oromoni, a student of Dowen College, died on November 30, 2021, after he was allegedly bullied and tortured by five senior students.

His father had claimed that Sylvester was beaten and fed a liquid chemical by his schoolmates but the college dismissed the claim.

The school management, however, claimed the boy sustained injuries while playing football with his colleagues.