The ongoing coroner’s inquest into the death of Sylvester Oromoni faced a setback today as the witnesses for the family failed to turn up in court again. The coroner’s inquiry was set up by the Lagos state government to investigate the cause of Sylvester’s death who passed away in on November 30, 2021 after being picked up by a relative from Dowen College, Lagos.
So far, out of all the parties to the case, Dowen College has complied fully with the order of the court to submit all their witness depositions before February 1, 2022. The family of Sylvester Oromoni have also submitted the depositions of four out of their seven witnesses. Other parties indicated they did not intend to call any witnesses.
It will be recalled that the witnesses for the family were slated to give evidence on Friday January 28th, 2022 but failed to turn up in court, a situation which compelled the Judge to issue a court order to both legal counsels to ensure that their witnesses were available on Monday, January 31st to ensure that there were no delays in the hearing.
At the hearing on Monday, counsel for Dowen college, Mr. Tony Kpokpo, raised pertinent issues as regards the case, one of which was the blatant disregard of the Judge’s gag order which had stated that both parties should refrain from speaking to the press on the matter at hand.
The counsel however pointed to an interview granted in one of the national dailies which was also posted on the micro-blogging platform Twitter, and stated that these stories were calculated to undermine the proceedings of the court as they did not reflect the true nature of the issue at hand.
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Speaking on behalf of his client, the counsel for the family, Andrew Efole stated that he was unaware of the publication and the witnesses scheduled for today were absent due to the ill-health of one of the witnesses in question who happens to be a sister to late Sylvester Oromoni Jnr. Upon further enquiries about the second witness who is the father of the late Sylvester, the lawyer responded that he had to stay behind to attend to the daughter.
This claim was questioned by Magistrate, Mikhail Kadiri who wondered whether the father could not find time to attend the hearing considering the crucial nature of his testimony and the desire of everyone to ensure speedy justice for the deceased. He also wondered why the family went against his wishes and went ahead to grant interviews and instructed legal counsel for the family to advise his client on the sanctity of the courtroom and its rulings.
The Judge went ahead to state that the case had been delayed primarily due to the actions of the family and stated that he was glad that the media were there to bear witness to the shortcomings of the family in presenting their witnesses. He queried the actions of the family and hoped that these actions were not a deliberate attempt to cast aspersions on his person or that of the court.
The Judge adjourned the case till the February 4, 2022 and appealed to the counsel for the family that in the interest of justice and fair hearing for the late Sylvester, the family would make themselves available to give testimony to ensure that progress was made on the case.
