Inquest: Dowen Nurse Denies Contact With Sylvester, Pathologist Affirms Autopsy Reports

Ms. Kafayat Usman, a nurse with the Dowen College based in Lekki, Lagos, on Monday disclosed that the sickbay for students is usually closed at the weekends.

The witness is the second nurse from the school to testi­fy in the ongoing coroner’s in­quest to unravel the cause of death of 12-year-old Sylvester Oromoni (Jnr) before a coro­ner inquest court presided by Coroner Magistrate Mikhail Kadiri.

Oromoni Jnr, a former stu­dent of Dowen College, died in November 2021 following an alleged beating and forceful intake of poisonous substanc­es because he refused to join a cult.

The school denied the claim, stating that the boy complained of leg pain following an injury he allegedly got while playing football.

The nurse who joined the school on September 4, 2021, on a full-time basis, was asked if she knew the deceased during cross-examination.

“I do not know the deceased and have never attended to him,” she said.

The school nurse who worked from Monday to Fri­day from 8 am to 3 p.m. daily, she only got to know about the student upon his demise.

The deceased family’s law­yer, Andrew Efole, asked if she had made any statement about the case to the police, and she said no.

“Since you do not work on weekends, who takes care of sick students on weekends?,” Efole asked.

“The sickbay is not open on weekends. I became aware of the deceased case on November 30, 2021, on the school premis­es,” Ms. Usman said.

Shortly after Ms. Usman testified, a pathologist from the University Teaching Hospital (UCH) in Ibadan, Oyo State, Uwom Eze, a forensic pathol­ogist was part of those that observed the autopsy of the deceased in Lagos.

He said he agrees with the findings of the two autopsies carried out on the deceased.

The first autopsy was car­ried out by a pathologist at the Central Hospital, Warri, Delta, Clement Vhriterhire, while the second which Mr. Eze wit­nessed was carried out by the Acting Chief Medical Exam­iner of Lagos State, Sunday Soyemi.

Mr. Eze, who had carried out over 1,000 autopsies, said that the second autopsy started late due to logistics issues.