A Chief Pathologist with Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH), Dr. Sunday Soyemi, has told the Coroner Inquest into the controversial death of Sylvester Oromoni, that a blackish substance was found in the 12-year-old boy’s intestine during autopsy.
He said this while answering questions on Tuesday under cross-examination from Counsel to the Oromoni family, Femi Falana (SAN).
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Dr Soyemi, however, testified that no test was carried out to determine what the blackish substance was.
Soyemi stated this while being cross-examined by the family’s lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), before the coroner inquest set up to unravel the cause of the boy’s death.
Lekki-based school, Dowen College, has been in the eye of the storm since the demise of a 12-year-old student, Sylvester Oromoni Jnr.
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The deceased’s father had alleged that his child was beaten by some senior students and forced to drink a liquid that killed him.
However, the school has denied the claim, saying instead that he sustained injuries while playing football with his mates.
Read Also: Father Of Late Dowen College Student Alleges He Was Beaten, Fed Chemical (Video)
A coroner inquest was subsequently set up to look into the circumstances surrounding the death.
Later on, five students and five officials of Dowen College linked to the death of a 12-year-old student were cleared of all accusations by Lagos State Government.
Read Also: [Breaking] Sylvester Oromoni’s Death: Lagos Exonerates Dowen Students, Staff
At the Tuesday proceedings, Soyemi, while being led in evidence by Director of Public Prosecutions, Babajide Martins, said the first autopsy carried out on the corpse was botched because the process was not properly done.
Soyemi, who faulted the first autopsy report, noted that some organs that would have revealed whether the victim died of ingestion of a poisonous substance were not cut by the first pathologist.
Read Also: Autopsy Reveals Sylvester Oromoni Died From ‘Acute Lung Injury From Chemical Intoxication’
According to Soyemi, the deceased had a generalised infection that could have been treated with massive doses of antibiotics, intravenous fluid and blood transfusion.
He said;
Following the order for a post-mortem examination issued by the coroner, I conducted a second autopsy on the body of the deceased. An initial interim report was issued and finally, a full autopsy report was also issued to the office of the coroner.
Prior to the conduct of the autopsy, I did a total body radiograph to rule out any skeletal injury, that is, fracture; none was found and the radiologist confirmed there was no fracture. Before I started the autopsy, the doctor who conducted the first autopsy was in attendance and he was in attendance throughout. So, I observed that the autopsy was not properly done. All that was not properly done is documented in my statement.
He stressed;
For example, at the first autopsy, the pathologist never opened the oesophagus; the oesophagus is the food pipe. He also did not open the trachea; it is the air path through which we breathe. These are vital things that he should not have missed out.
He concluded his report as chemical intoxication. For one to be intoxicated with a chemical, that chemical has to pass through the oesophagus, that is the food path. For someone that has not opened the food path, he cannot talk about chemical intoxication. A chemical that would be injurious to one, after ingestion, should cause injuries on the oesophagus because it would pass through the oesophagus, so it should never have been anything near chemical intoxication if he did not open the oesophagus.
The pathologist stated;
He also did not open the lungs; he did not detach the lungs from the heart. If he had done that and waded the lungs, it would tell him that something is wrong with the lungs. These are some of the many things he did not do. He did a botched autopsy and this was the cause of the controversy surrounding this case.
However, Soyemi, during cross-examination by Falana, told the inquest that he did not carry out any test on the black substance found in the deceased’s intestine on the grounds that LASUTH did not have a laboratory to test poisonous substances.
He further admitted that the substance found in the intestine could have been anything as it was not tested to confirm what it was.
Soyemi also denied authorising a television interview granted by the doctor representing Dowen College, Dr Iwikwe Isabella, who spoke on the autopsy findings.
He said;
That’s not the practice. I was embarrassed when the report was being discussed on TV. I was embarrassed in the sense that she didn’t perform the autopsy; she observed all through. It’s not the normal practice even if you have done the autopsy.
Soyemi, who noted that his findings showed that the deceased had lobar pneumonia, infection of the lung, liver, and also infection on the right ankle, maintained that the deceased died of septicaemia.
He explained that if the deceased was physically assaulted or beaten, all the exposed areas would show haemorrhage.
Earlier, the presiding magistrate, Mikhail Kadiri, had a heated argument with Falana when the counsel objected to a question the director of public prosecutions asked Soyemi.
Falana noted that Kadiri was fond of saying the inquest was not a regular court at his convenience.
However, the duo later settled the matter amicably.
