Clement Vhriterhire, a pathologist, with Central Hospital Warri, Delta State who carried out initial autopsy on the body of Sylvester Oromoni Jnr, has claimed that the Dowen College student died of pneumonia leading to sepsis.
The latest claim also aligns with that of Dr Sokunle Soyemi, pathologist to the Lagos State University Hospital, LASUTH.
According to the physician, while being led in evidence, he told Coroner Mikhail Kadiri that he was served Coroner papers by the Police to carry out a post-mortem on 2nd December 2021 on the corpse of Oromoni.
He said prior to the operation, he was told that the deceased was beaten, but not told he was given a substance to drink before touching the deceased.
Dr Vhriterhire said, “I expect to see clear evidence of beating as to the cause of death.
“Upon physical examination of the body, externally looking at the body I did not see any open injury.
“I should be seeing evidence of significant bleeding in the abdominal cavity, by the time I opened these cavities, I did not see sign of beating.”
Asked whether the father revealed the nature of beating to the pathologist before he began the autopsy, he replied in the negative.
Continuing, “Your Honour, I can’t remember getting information of the boy being beaten with any instrument.
“I did not see any evidence of ruptured internal organs.”
He said he called Mr Oromoni to tell him his findings, and explained, “At that point, the father said, “In the process of being beaten that he was forced to drink a substance.’”
“At that point, without such information but in the middle, I thought he might have ingested something.”
He told the court further, “I opened the stomach, in the stomach was a chocolate coloured material.”
The pathologist who claimed that he is also a pastor was questioned by the coroner of what he would say to whether the allegation of beating and given chemical substance led to the deceased death, he told the court that some answers are never simplistic, saying that, “It is possible that the child was beaten and the trauma was light trauma.”
He however noted that “Nothing will give credence to the allegation that he died by chemical intoxication.”
He said, “I didn’t see any injury that can explain death.”
“No evidence of such gravity to explain death.”
The witness under cross-examination by Mr Anthony Kpokpo, the counsel to Dowen College said septic shock is a possibility as to the cause of the deceased’s death.
Izuchukwu Ohanjinwa a counsel to one of the students accused of beating the deceased said further, “He did not have bed sores. And I told you there was no external injury but slight bruising.”
Another counsel representing another accused student, Mr Ayi Ekpenyong Imah, also under cross-examination was told that the toxicology result didn’t show any poisonous substance.
While questioning, the witness was told by Dr Clement that the toxicology facility he has been using was that of the Force CID and has been useful, but said he did not know where the actual analysis was coming from.
Oromoni’s family lawyer, Mr Femi Falana, SAN, asked about the bruise he saw on the deceased. He responded, “When I reflected on the back, there is this hue that may have been inflicted months earlier.”
He however held that the toxicology report from the police was inconclusive and highlighted that the second autopsy carried out by Dr Soyemi was not sent for toxicology
Countering that he didn’t open some organs during the initial autopsy, and that his report was a botched one as claimed by the second pathologist and that could have given a significant indication to assist his finding, the witness explained, “I opened the stomach, I opened the intestine up to a point but what I saw didn’t look worrisome to me.”
“Dr Soyemi’s claim of a botched autopsy was his opinion about the preliminary report of autopsy. I didn’t do a botched autopsy
While the witness was still being under cross-examination by Mr Bernard Oniga, the Nigerian Bar Association’s representative at the inquest on Monday asked for clarification on who asked him to represent him at the second autopsy in Lagos, he said, ” I had the mandate of the father to be present at the deceased autopsy in Lagos.
“As at the time I finished reviewing my microscopic slides, I was seeing the different appearances of tissues.
“I placed a call to him when I finished analysis, I told him I have seen evidence of sepsis to numerous organs.
“The information didn’t sink down well with him, you will be saying something and he will be saying something else, I quite understand the grieving process, we seem not to be communicating well but when the toxicology result came I decided to package and send it to the Coroner.”
“My relationship with father of the deceased is not disturbed in anyway, earlier on January he told me about the inquest and that he would be called an “I made a mental note of it.”
Responding to why his preliminary report was circulated on social media, he said, “In all my years of service, I have not seen my report on any social media, so I was surprised on learning that.”
“I don’t think it was changed in anyway, for instance, I put the interim report together and forwarded to the police.
“I also know after the second autopsy I had opportunity to discuss with him on what was seen and I also placed a call to him to see that this is my reasoning on what was seen.
When asked of his opinion as to the treatment given to the deceased by family doctor and whether other intervention could have saved the deceased, he said, “Apart from being a pathologist, I happen to be a pastor, I know in my years of practice I know of those with best of medical cares and with inexplainable reason they still died.”
“I don’t dispute such an answer, despite the clarity of diagnosis and medication available they still didn’t make it.”
“I remember that the father said to me, I just want to know the truth of it so that it won’t happen to somebody else.
“I am in agreement with suggested treatment to save his life.”
He agreed that a massive dose of antibiotics, blood transfusion, intravenous fluid, and other recommendations by Dr Soyemi would have saved the deceased.
Source: Tribune
