A policeman, Bamidele Olusegun, said Dowen College was initially indicted in the first legal advice issued by the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) over the death of 12-year-old student, Sylvester Oromoni Jnr.

Mr Olusegun, who is serving with the Homicide Section of the Lagos State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos, stated this on Monday while testifying before an Ikeja Coroner’s Court.

While under cross-examination by counsel to the Oromoni family, Femi Falana, the policeman said he had received interim legal advice from the DPP dated December 30, 2021, which recommended that the school and its staff should be prosecuted for alleged negligence.

Mr Falana showed the witness a copy of the interim report and requested that he read the last paragraph of the document.

Reading it aloud, the policeman said: “There are sufficient facts to establish this offence against Mrs Celina Uduak, Valentine Igboekweze, Hammed Ayomo Bariyu, Adesanya Olusegun and Mr Adeyemi and Dowen College.”

The witness also noted he received another legal advice dated January 4, which had exonerated Dowen College of involvement in the deceased’s death.

The witness affirmed that he conducted a thorough investigation on the matter. He said he 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.

Mr Olusegun also disclosed that two of the suspects detained over the death of late Oromoni had confessed that he was bullied.

“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.

He also said the suspects were not brought back to the police station for the conclusion of the investigation.

Asked if any suspects had informed him that the deceased was injured on November 14, 2021, Mr Olusegun said he did not have any recollection.

The policeman told the inquest that the deceased’s sister said to 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.

Mr 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 director of the Lagos State DPP, Babajide Martins, and counsel to Dowen College, Anthony Kpokpo, informed the inquest that they were not previously served copies of the legal advice with which Falana had cross-examined the witness.

The Coroner, Mikhail Kadiri, adjourned proceedings until February 22 for the continuation of cross-examination.

Controversies had trailed the circumstances surrounding the death of the 12-year-old student who died on November 30, 2021, from injuries sustained in an attack by five senior students of Dowen College for allegedly refusing to join a cult.

It was also alleged that he was forced to drink an obnoxious substance by his attackers.

On January 4, the Lagos State DPP’ advice, however, stated that the cause of Oromoni’s death was acute bacterial pneumonia due to severe sepsis.

(NAN)