By Daniel Ojukwu
Clifford Tejere, guardian of late Sylvester Oromoni, a 12-year-old ex-student at Dowen College, has said he attempted to engage the boy in a game of soccer on PlayStation 4 while he was groaning in pain.
Tejere said this while testifying before Magistrate Mikail Kadiri during a coroner’s inquest into Oromoni’s death at the Magistrate Court, Epe, Lagos State, on Friday. He was responding to cross-examination by Anthony Kpokpo, counsel of Dowen College.
Earlier, Tejere told the court that after picking Oromoni from school on Tuesday, November 23, 2021, he took him for an X-ray scan, after which he was told to get hot balm and painkillers for him.
He said Sylvester Oromoni’s condition had not improved when he took him to the Oromoni family house in Abiola Court 5, Chevron, Lagos.
“After the X-ray, we went to the house after I bought hot balm and Panadol for him,” Tejere told the court. “I bathed him, applied the hot balm on his feet, gave him noodles and tried to get him to sleep, but he was going through serious pain.”
Kpokpo asked what Tejere did when he noticed the boy was not responding to treatment. Responding, Tejere said he brought out the boy’s PS4 to play with him, but he kept “groaning in pain”.
Kpokpo then pointed out to Tejere that his 12-year-old daughter was of the same age as Oromoni, and asked if he would have played PS4 with her if she was in the same situation.
The question infuriated Tejere as he wondered why his daughter was brought up. However, he said, “Maybe, maybe not”.
He later told the coroner he did not get permission from the boy’s parents to take him to a hospital as the X-ray did not reveal any internal injuries.
The coroner’s inquest was going at press time.
The inquest into the death of Sylvester Oromoni began on Saturday.
Before the coroner on Friday were Femi Falana (SAN), counsel for the Oromonis; Akingbola George, counsel for the Lagos State Ministry of Justice; and Anthony Kpokpo, counsel for Dowen College.
Also present were lawyers of the five students of Dowen College accused of ill-treating the boy, leading to his death, and the legal representative of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA).
