Sylvester Oromoni Snr on Tuesday told an Ikeja Coroner’s Court that viral videos showing his late son, Sylvester Oromoni Jnr, in a critical health condition were meant for church testimony.
He spoke during a cross-examination at an inquest on the the death of the 12-year-old Dowen College student.
Oromoni said: “Those videos were made to give testimony in court.
“If God had made him survive, we would have used them to give thanksgiving and testimonies of what the boy went through.”
Oromoni was responding to a question from Godwin Omoaka (SAN), counsel to one of the accused Dowen College, Lekki, Lagos State students.
The witness said that the late student was taken to the family church, God’s Grace Ministry International, Warri, Delta State, on November 29, 2021 for a one-hour deliverance session.
He told the inquest that he accepted the interim report of an autopsy conducted by Dr. Clement Vhriterhire of the Central Hospital Warri, Delta State, which stated that his son was assaulted and poisoned.
“Since the boy said so before he died, and there is evidence supporting it, I accept it if that is the content of the report,” he said.
The witness testified that he was aware that one of his daughters, Annabel Oromoni, was behind the leaking of the interim autopsy report to the press.
Oromoni Snr, however, disputed an allegation that his son was brought in DOA (Dead on Arrival) to Vicar Clinic, Warri, Delta State on November 30, 2021.
He added that his son never had scalded lips in the past.
He also disputed an allegation made by Omoaka that his son’s leg was massaged at the family home in Warri.
“I only called someone who knows about massages to examine the leg and not massage it,” he said.
While being cross-examined by counsel to Dowen College, Anthony Kpokpo, Oromoni said that the family doctor, Aghogho Owhojede, never informed him on November 26, 2021, that his son had an enlarged liver.
He said: “A nurse called from school on Monday evening that my son needed medical attention.
“It was the first time the school ever called me for that.
“It is a lie that the school had called me in the past to come and pick up my son for having a twisted tongue and a scalded mouth.”
NAN reports that it was alleged that the 12-year-old student died on November 30, 2021 from injuries sustained in an attack by five senior students of Dowen College for refusing to join a cult.
It was also alleged that he was forced to drink an obnoxious substance by his attackers
Advice by the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions released on January 4, 2022, however, disputed the allegations.
It stated that an autopsy revealed the cause of the student’s death as acute bacterial pneumonia due to severe sepsis
The Coroner, Mikhail Kadiri, adjourned proceedings until February 21, 2022 for continuation of cross-examination.
