The police in Lagos State have explained why a Dowen College housemaster and other members of the school’s staff were released after being detained in connection with the death of Sylvester Oromoni.
Hakeem Odumosu, the Commissioner of Police, also stated that the police were awaiting the results of a toxicology test in order to determine the next course of action in the case.
According to Odumosu, the police were forced to release the housemaster and others after an autopsy on the deceased’s body revealed that they were not guilty of murder.
He went on to say that the police freed them once the court order granting them the legal right to detain them expired.
Odumosu, who was just promoted to the position of Assistant Inspector General, stated: “Based on the result of the autopsy, the court order that we got elapsed and we released the housemaster and the others on bail.”
The police boss said: “There was nothing that indicted them of murder. It is a murder case that is not bailable. Every other offence is bailable and they had been in custody for more than 20 days and that is infringing on their fundamental human rights.
“Since medical and legal reports have not indicted them so far, I think there is need to allow them have their freedom because bail is not the end of the case.”
Odumosu added that: “We are not yet at the peak, but we have concluded our investigation and we have sent the report to the DPP [Directorate of Public Prosecution] for legal advice.
“We have gone through the medical one, which is the post-mortem. The post-mortem we carried out in Delta State, was also carried out in Lagos. The one done in Delta State was only witnessed by the parents of the deceased.”
He also stressed that, “After I held a meeting with the parties concerned, a post-mortem was carried out in Lagos. The corpse was brought from Delta to Lagos.
“The post-mortem was carried out in Lagos with all the parties involved, that is, parents of the deceased, parents of the students accused, the school authority and government. These were the four parties that witnessed the post-mortem.”
