Other students indicted in the case are Kenneth Inyang, Favour Benjamin, Ansel Temile and Edward Begue.
A report by the Nigeria Police Force has indicted Michael Kashamu, one of the sons of late politician, Senator Buruji Kashamu, over the death of Sylvester Oromoni, a pupil of Dowen College, Lagos, who died under mysterious circumstances in 2021.
Other students indicted in the case are Kenneth Inyang, Favour Benjamin, Ansel Temile and Edward Begue.
The report signed by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Fayoade Adegoke, of the Lagos State Police Criminal Investigation Department, also accused Dowen College management, three staff members--- Valentine Igbokwe Eze, Ahmed Bariyu and Adesanya Olusesan of negligence.
“That the prime suspects are one Micheal Kashamu ‘m’ 15 years, Kenneth Inyang ‘m’ 15 years, Favour Benjamin ‘m’ 16 years, Ansel Temile ‘m’ 14 years, Edward Begue ‘m’ 16 years, Valentine Igbokwe Eze ‘m’ 45 years, Ahmed Bariyu ‘m’ 52 years and Adesanya Olusesan ‘m’ 42 years.
“That sometimes in the past, before the death of the deceased, Sylvester Oronomi (jnr) ‘m’, there was an incident whereby Favour Benjamin ‘m’ beat the deceased for disclosing to his sister, Amanda Oromoni ‘f’ how he was forced to describe his sister's private part. The incident was not given attention by the school authority.
“That Torilla Wilson ‘m’ stated that Favour Benjamin ‘m’, Micheal Kashamu ‘m’ and Ansel Temile ‘m’ took the deceased to the third floor to prevent students on the second floor from witnessing how the deceased was being bullied and beaten. However, there is no concrete evidence to back up the claim.
“In addition, from the records, one of the suspects, Edward, was issued a letter of working suspension by the school authority dated 23/05/2019 for inappropriate behaviuor, to clean his classroom on May 23, 2021 for eating popcorn while a teacher was in class and eventually spat some on the teacher.
“That equally, another suspect, Kasamu Micheal, was issued a letter of suspension by the school authority, dated March 5, 2019 from school between for bullying and physically assaulting a fellow student, one Okeke, who has since left the school.”
The police report further revealed how the suspects and other students constituted themselves into a clique that bullied and intimidated fellow students in the school.
“It is evidently clear that some group of students constituted themselves into a clique that bullies and intimidates fellow students in the school. A glaring example is Michael Kashamu ‘m’ and ‘Edward Bague ‘m’, who were earlier reprimanded for bullying other students.
“The three house masters, Valentine Igbokwe Eze ‘m’ 45 years, Ahmed Bariyu ‘m’ 52 years and Adesanya Olusesan ‘m’ 42 years failed to take decisive action when cases of inappropriate behaviour were reported to them.”
Sylvester died on November 30, 2021 following ill-health said to have been caused by bullying by the suspects.
The 12-year-old’s father had claimed his child was beaten and fed with a liquid substance that eventually claimed his life.
But Dowen dismissed the claim, alleging that the boy sustained injuries while playing football with colleagues
Hakeem Odumosu, then Lagos Police Commissioner, ordered a probe into the case while the school was sealed.
Two autopsies were carried out on the deceased, one by the Delta police and the second by the Lagos police command.
The first autopsy earlier released to the public had revealed that the deceased died of “chemical intoxication”.