SYLVESTER Oromoni, the father of Sylvester Oromoni Junior, must have spent the past few days flipping through photos of his son alongside his family. His sisters can only look at these pictures because they miss him and his parents must feel like justice has not been served yet. The family is still grieving and frustrated, but they are trying to stay strong and pursue justice to the end even as it takes a toll on them.
That no one has gone on trial is as a result of our sluggish justice system but the police is also stalling, and it seems they must do this according to the will of some powers that be. This explains the easy release of all anonymous students and teachers arrested on suspicion of involvement in the death of this boy. But there’s more.
The coroner who gave a physical examination report concluded that Sylvester died as a result of lung intoxication with other complications to his stomach, brain, and liver. The autopsy confirms bruise left on his back and flanks, we also see that he was indeed forced to drink a corrosive substance as the chemical partly ran off course and tricked into his lungs.
Video evidence shows the physiological torment Sylvester underwent before he died, physical examination confirms the boy didn’t just fall ill and die, yet the police is deliberately dumbing down its intelligence and interrogation units in order to overlook the obvious. This is a heinous case, a case involving pure evil. This evil is pure because it is intelligent enough to scheme an escape from justice after fully realising the tragedy it’s wrought.
The commissioner of police said that, based on the fact that the court order the police got has elapsed, the police command has released the housemaster and others on bail because “they have not been indicted of murder”. Please, is this not a potential homicide or murder case? There’s ample evidence pointing at foul play and the police is playing the shameful game of ignorance now.
This is unacceptable. Of course, the father of the deceased has expressed his disappointment at the police and their handling of —or fumbling with— this case. The autopsy result conducted in Lagos is yet to be made public but what was conducted in Warri is public knowledge.
The police in Lagos had ordered that the body of the late Sylvester be conveyed to Lagos to conduct “another autopsy”. The thoroughness of this approach was approached weeks ago, when this happened, but the police seems to be working on a time table too slow for the grieving family and interested public. Releasing the housemaster and suspect students on a bail (a sum of ₦1 million each) is yet another error in judgement.
The management of Dowen College clearly told the public that the young Oromoni sustained injuries while he played football. Then video evidence of the 12-year-old revealing he was tortured by his fellow students who pressured him to join a cult group in the school surfaced, only for the school to set this elaborate damage control strategy in motion.
For now, the family is left with a gaping hole in their hearts and a half-serious justice system that does not want to guarantee justice for Sylvester.
