Father of late Dowen College student, Sylvester speaks on the incident – “My son suffered”

Father of late Dowen college student, Sylvester Oromoni has broken silence following the death of his son.

During an exclusive interview with TheCable Lifestyle, father of the late student said:

“My son suffered. His birthday is next tomorrow (Dec 4). I’ll celebrate it. I’ll have a cake baked. I’ll cut it on his behalf. The boys they mentioned were also reported to the school last term when they bullied Junior and collected all his foodstuffs; clothes. I have two daughters, one of whom earlier graduated. I had to remove the second after this incident. They asked this boy to describe the sister’s body and this got to us.”

Oromoni’s family revealed Dowen had temporarily suspended the boys involved after the family’s eldest son took it up. He said Junior was also switched to a new hostel but the bullying and intimidation persisted into the new term.

“They put fear in him so much so that, when you ask him, he might keep to himself and say, ‘they will kill me’. This way, we didn’t know what to do. I considered removing him reconsidered since his sisters were still in the school. The new incident came to my knowledge on November 21st after the school called my wife to notify us that our son was in the school clinic, injured. My senior son, who was to make a London trip, came to see us in Warri,” he said.

“The next day, we sent a family friend to help pick up our son since he was the only person in Lagos and take him to the hospital. When he got there, he panicked, pointing out that he doubts it’s a football injury as the school claimed. He said the boy couldn’t stand because his waist was bent and swollen along with one side of his belly. His mouth was black. I asked, ‘is this really a football injury?’ He was taken to my house in Lagos but couldn’t sleep at night.

“I asked my eldest to fly to Lagos on November 24 while I took a trip to Asaba, from where I’d also make for Lagos. On getting there, he screamed. ‘This is beyond football injury. Come to Lagos now,’ he told me over the phone.”

Oromoni also stated that the family flew the deceased to Warri where blood tests and an x-ray were conducted. He said Junior also underwent typhoid/malaria treatments but his mouth started peeling in excess of malaria drug side effects.

The bereaved said the deceased only managed to sleep one hour when sedated and would wake up screaming in pain. The father added it was on November 29, when he was away for a government function, that Junior “opened up”.

The father said Junior suffered liver enlargement due to congealed blood. He said, before he could make a return trip to Warri towards facilitating Junior’s transfer to the teaching hospital, the boy drew what became his last breath.

It was also claimed that Junior was fed a liquid substance described as “a chemical” for refusing to join the group.

Oromoni alleged that the principal frowned at him for releasing the deceased boy’s picture to the press. He said she had premised her argument on the deceased being a minor. He also said he looks forward to an autopsy, arguing that Dowen should be more concerned about going after the boys Junior had named as his assailants before death.

The boy’s father said:

“They even released a press statement. Was the principal there when the boy played the said football game? Can they identify who he played with? Where was the housemaster when he was playing it? The woman too is confused. Clearly, she’s trying to protect the school’s image. But a mother of children wants to hide the truth?”