The father and sister of the late Sylvester Oromoni have given evidence before the Lagos State Coroner’s Court investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of the 12-year-old Dowen College’s student.
While the sister, Amanda Oromoni, testified behind closed doors, his father, Sylvester Oromoni Snr, was delayed due to the failure of his family’s lawyer to front-load the documents sought to be tendered as evidence in the proceedings.
At the resumed hearing of the inquest yesterday, counsel to Nigerian Bar Association, Bernard Oniga, urged the coroner, Magistrate, Mikail Kadiri, to bar the press from the proceedings to protect the sister who is 13-year-old.
Oniga based his argument on the provisions of the Child Rights Act , concerning the testimony of a minor in an open court.
Following no opposition from other parties to the inquest, the coroner ordered that the gallery be cleared before the testimony of the minor was taken.
Shortly after the testimony of the deceased sister, the family’s counsel, Andrew Efole, announced that he had some documents to tender in the course of the testimony of the Oromoni Snr.
After Sylvester’s father took his oath, he informed the court that some of the documents that he sought to tender included two audio conversations and a video containing some moments with the deceased in the laboratory.
Some of the documents sought to be tendered by the family lawyer, which were earlier played in the open court included a flash drive containing the audio conversation between him and a father of one Afolabi, a Junior Secondary student of Dowen college.
It also included another audio conversation with the said Afolabi, who confirmed that the deceased was bullied because he heard him shouting and nobody was there to help.
The flash drive contained a video where the deceased was taken for an X-ray at a laboratory.
Also, a video of how the deceased was carried away from the school on the arm of his brother’s friend on Tuesday, November 23, 2021, was shown.
Another video also showed the deceased being carried by two people at the laboratory while groaning in pain to the car after the X-ray was carried out on him.
His school box that was allegedly damaged was also presented as evidence before the court.
Meanwhile, Efole informed the court that he could not serve the other parties in the matter because the Officer Commanding, Legal (OC legal) did not provide them with the necessary documents on time.
While responding, Godwin Omoaka (SAN) representing one of the five students 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 asked that the video be played in the open court before we begin with the witness,’” he said.
In his arguments, Anthony Kpokpo aligned himself with the senior advocate that the video be played in the court.
While aligning himself with other counsel, a deputy director in the Lagos State Ministry of Justice, Akin George, said the ministry had made the needed documents available earlier.
Ezechukwu Ohajinwa also asked the defence counsel for the source of the CCTV video that was earlier played in the court and also the full name of the said Afolabi that the deceased father spoke with in the audio.
Magistrate Kadiri after listening to the submission of the counsel, adjourned till February 14 for the testimony of the deceased father (PW5) to be taken.
He ruled that the family lawyer should serve the necessary documents on the other parties. While the coroner also adjourned till Tuesday to take the testimony of the pathologist.
He ruled, “Based on the observation of counsel, this inquest hereby adjourned to February 14 for the examination of PW5, while the inquest is adjourned till Tuesday, February 8 to take the evidence of the pathologist.
