Dowen College: My son not in school day of incident, says mother of alleged student

Juliana Francis

IGP. Alkali Baba

The Lagos State Police Command is planning to quiz the senior students of Dowen College, who were accused of bullying and torturing 12 -year-old Sylvester Oromoni to death.

According to police sources, the students and their parents are expected to report at the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Department (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, on tuesday as Homicide Detectives commence investigation into the death of Sylvester.

This was even as the mother of one of the students, Edward Brown, insisted that her son was innocent of the allegations of bullying and murder.

The distraught mother, Oluchi Sunday, stated that Edward Brown’s name was not earlier mentioned, wondering why it was suddenly being bandied about on the social media, leading to her family becoming under constant and severe attacks from all corners.

On Monday, the families of Michael Kashamu and Ansel Temile, also took to social media to exonerate their children of being culpable in the death of Sylvester Junior.

The parents of the late Sylvester during an interview with some journalists stated that the deceased on his dying bed mentioned the names of the senior students of Dowen College, who tortured him and then forced fed him a substance.

However, Sunday, in a statement made available to journalists, insisted that Edward Brown, who does not live in the dormitory, was not in school at the time of the alleged beating. The statement is replicated below;

She said: “It has come to my attention that some individuals caused rumours to be peddled on social media platforms suggesting that my son Edward Brown is one of the students allegedly involved in the beating of the late Sylvester Oromoni Jr at a Dowen College hostel, which resulted in his untimely death. To set the record straight, I wish to bring the following facts to the public notice, which demonstrate that such rumours are false, malicious and lack any basis whatsoever: My son is a day student and has never been a boarder. Because my son is a day student, he was not on the school premises at the time when the unfortunate incident occurred. Precisely on the night of November 21, 2021, during a weekend and so, could not have been in the hostel as alleged. In a social media post made on December1, 2021, on the deceased’s elder brother’s Instagram page, “greatoromonii”, five names, including Dowen College were mentioned before the conclusion. My son’s name was not among those names. As a result of these false and malicious rumours, my son and I have been under constant attack via social media, with insults and threats being hurled at us daily. This has caused us much emotional distress and mental trauma. Therefore, on behalf of myself and my son, Edward Brown, I hereby demand that managers of social media and other platforms where the false and libelous rumours are circulating, immediately retract the offending posts and tender a public apology to us. In this regard, Gistlovers247blog, Nkechicatherine9, celebs_critique Nkanu TV, tamara_momotimi, etc, take notice. We commiserate with the Oromini family for the tragic loss of Sylvester Oromini Jr and pray for the repose of his soul.”