The magistrate presiding over the coroner’s inquest into the controversial death of 12-year-old Dowen College student Sylvester Oromoni Jr. has reprimanded the deceased’s family for violating his order prohibiting parties and their lawyers from commenting. public about the judicial process.
The hearing has moved from its previous location, the Epe Trial Court, to the Old Registry, Ikeja, Lagos.
Anthony Kpokpo, the school’s lawyer, told the magistrate, Mikhail Kadiri, on Monday that the JSS 2 student’s father, Sylvester Oromoni, had given an interview to a national newspaper explaining his absence from last Friday’s session.
In the interview conducted by the Punch newspaper, the aggrieved father said that he decided not to appear to testify in court that day because the other parties had not submitted their witness statements under oath as required, even though his own side made use of from those of others.
The court was also told that another family member had tweeted about the same proceedings, but did not reflect the accurate account of the hearings thus far.
In his response, the family’s lawyer, Andrew Efole, of the chamber of a senior lawyer, Femi Falana, apologized for the conduct of the Oromoni. He said he was not aware of the events.
The magistrate, after reviewing the interview on his mobile device, noted that Mr. Oromoni’s responses sounded as if his lawyers had advised him to absent himself from court, and that such comments were a slap in the face of the court.
He said that if the family’s intention is to leave the question of how their son really died in the hands of the public, then there was no point in carrying out the inquiry, which was instituted at their request.
The procedure stalled again due to the absence of the father and sister of the deceased, who had been billed to testify on Monday.
Mr. Ehole explained to the court that the 13-year-old witness fell ill and was being treated for a malaria-related ailment and that her father was treating her at his family’s home in Warri, Delta State.
“The mother is not in a position to care for her, as she is still traumatized by the loss of her last child, and the older children are not here because it is a school term,” he said.
The family’s lawyer also urged the court to order the other parties to bring their witnesses to testify so as not to let the day go to waste.
But this drew strong opposition from state government lawyers Akingbola George and Godwin Omoaka (SAN), who represent one of five seniors accused by the Oromoni family of bullying their son to death.
They argued that all family witnesses must testify fully before other parties, in accordance with court directives.
Although the magistrate acknowledged that Mr. Falana Chambers had written to the court about the absence of his next witness due to health problems, he wondered why the father was also absent, noting that his presence was necessary to provide more information about the circumstances surrounding the death of his son.
The coroner said: “I don’t understand why a party that requested an investigation is the one that stalls the process.”
The lawyer from the Nigerian Bar Association, who is watching the investigation, Bernard Onigah, urged the court to make a final order on the conduct of all parties, so that anyone who tries to thwart the process incurs a severe penalty.
The matter was adjourned until February 1.
background
Dowen College, recently plagued by controversy, was closed by the Lagos state government last year following the controversial death of 12-year-old teacher Oromoni.
While the Oromoni accused the school, staff and some of its students of being complicit in their son’s death, the Lagos State Public Prosecution Department (DPP) cleared them of complicity.
However, the late Oromoni’s parents and their lawyer, Femi Falana, criticized the DPP’s verdict, saying it was premeditated and unacceptable.