The Lagos State Government has cleared the five students and five employees of Dowen College accused of complicity in the death of 12-year-old Sylvester Oromoni Jnr.
The state cleared them as well as the school following the Legal Advice of the Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Ms. Adetutu Oshinusi.
According to the legal advice which was addressed to the Deputy Commissioner of Police, State Criminal Investigation Department, SCID and the trial magistrate, Magistrate Olatunbosun Adeola, 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 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.
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, Favour Benjamin aged 16, Micheal Kashamu (15), Edward Begue (16), Ansel Temile (14) and Kenneth Inyang (15).
The state also cleared the minors of belonging to unlawful society due to insufficient facts to establish the offence.
It 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”.
The state also cleared the school and five employees: Celina Uduak, Valentine Igboekweze, Hammed Ayomo Bariyu, Adesanya Olusesan Olusegun and one Adeyemi of the offence of Negligent Act Causing Harm contrary to section 252 of the Criminal Law Ch. C17, Vol.3, Laws of Lagos State 2015.
The state, therefore, directed that all the suspects should be released if they are still in custody.
Read the full statement below:
Reacting to the development, the father of the deceased, Mr Sylvester Oromoni, said the news did not come to him as a surprise after the students were granted bail even before the stipulated time granted by the courts for the police to carry out their investigation.
Oromoni said contrary to the results conducted by the Lagos State Government, there was another autopsy carried out by the Delta State Police Command which suggested that his late son may have been fed with harmful chemicals.
He, however, insisted he will not give up and that his family will meet with his lawyers on the way forward.
“This one is not new to us. I remember of the 31st of December when the Commissioner of Police was making his speech, he mentioned that at the instance of the governor, the Attorney General and the DPP, they have completed their investigation,” he said.
“They discovered that the children, housemasters have no case so he has released them on bail, discharged. He is not the court to decide this matter. What I will tell you is that the family will sit with our lawyers, we will respond appropriately and that time, all of you will be there.
“But on the main time, let me assure you that on December 21, the same Commissioner of Police told me that they were not done with their investigation. They also told me that they are writing to the Attorney General of the state and the Governor to return those boys back.
“Okay look at the holiday. When did they write to the Attorney General to send those boys back to complete their investigation? We did not hear anything like that. At what point did they complete their investigation?
“There was a holiday on Monday, Tuesday and all of that. Don’t worry; we are not bothered, we have heard of this before. This is just the beginning of the case”, he said.
