15th April, 2024
The Lagos State Coroner on Monday delivered its verdict in the case of deceased student of Down College, Sylvester Oromoni, saying he died of negligence from his parents and the doctor attending to him.
Magistrate Mikail Kadiri in his verdict on Monday said Oromoni, 12, died of natural cause, but said his death was avoidable.
He said the death of the boy could have been avoidable if not for the negligence of the parents and the medical team who attended to him.
According to him, Oromoni died from sepsis caused by an ankle injury, leading to an infection of the lungs and kidney.
Kadiri added that evidence and the reports of the two experts who performed an autopsy on late Oromoni said he died of severe septicemia (sepsis) as a result of an infection.
The magistrate said he did not believe the version of the family doctor Henry Aghogho’s evidence, saying that based on the preceding, it was clear that the deceased’s health deteriorated in (doctor) PW 3’s care.
“PW 3 did not take proper care of the deceased; PW 3 completely abandoned the deceased for more than 32 hours.
“The deceased’s death was an avoidable one, but for the negligence of the parents and PW 3, they didn’t take him to the hospital until the day he died on November 30, 2021,” Kadiri stated.
The magistrate added that the deceased went through an avoidable and excruciating pain and made to suffer needlessly, saying that despite the alleged accusations of the deceased that he was beaten and bullied, it was, however, not proven because all the accused persons denied it.
He argued that all the students involved denied the allegations, while some of them were not in school when the incident occurred as they claimed to be borders who did not even stay in school during the weekends.
Kadiri said the sister’s evidence could not be relied on because it was based on hearsay from the brother.
The magistrate said Oromoni went through avoidable excruciating pain and needless suffering until his death, adding that the pupils alleged to have bullied him played no part in the death of the deceased from all the evidences before the court.
The Coroner also cleared the five students of Dowen College, Favour Benjamin, Edward Begue, Ansel Temile, Kenneth Inyang and Micheal Kashamu.