Following the controversial death of Dowen College student, Sylvester Oromoni, a family doctor to the deceased’s family, Aghogho Owhojedo has testified at the coroner’s inquest investigating the alleged bullying.
The doctor, who is the third prosecution witness, testified that he did not see any evidence of physical assault on the deceased when he treated the late Sylvester Oromoni Jnr last year November.
While answering questions from counsel to one of the accused Dowen College Students, Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Godwin Omoaka on Wednesday, the family doctor also told the coroner, Magistrate Mikhail Kadiri that Sylvester Oromoni Jnr did not die of blunt force trauma.
In the proceedings, which lasted over 7 hours at the Coroners Court sitting in Ikeja, Dr. Owhojedo said he treated the late Sylvester at the Oromoni’s home in Warri because his condition was not life-threatening when he first saw him on the 26th, according to Channels Tv report.
“Because you felt his condition was not critical, you disagreed with his father when he requested that you admit the young man to the hospital?” the counsel asked.
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“No, that is not correct”, replied the doctor.
“So why did you not admit him?” the counsel questioned.
The doctor replied; “The deceased father called me and said his son sustained injuries while playing football.
“The child was given first aid in school at the sick bay and there was no evidence of fracture or dislocation, on his upper or lower.
“His body was very hot as he had a high temperature of 38.7oc. The private ward was not available at that time and since there was no fracture or dislocation, I managed him at home on an ad-hoc basis, a nurse was with him.”
The counsel asked again, “On the 26th when you examined the young man, did you see any evidence of physical assault on him.?”
Speaking further about the care administered to Sylvester, the doctor explained that he “took blood samples and did a test for full blood count, random blood sugar, and typhoid fever.
“That result showed he had malaria fever and we treated him for malaria from the 26th to the 28th with a nurse in attendance. I equally noticed the redness of the upper lips which may not be a result of malaria, so I referred them to St. Louis Diagnostics for scan and x-ray on the 29th.
“The result got to me late on the 29th and revealed that the boy had enlarged l“Enlarged liver can be caused by heart failure, trauma(beating), sickle cell disease, ingestion of a harmful or toxic substance, sepsis and sometimes severe malaria.”
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