Mr. Samuel Inyang, a father to one of the five suspected bullies (name withheld), allegedly involved in the death of Sylvester Oromoni Junior, yesterday, told Coroner Magistrate sitting in Ikeja, that his son had paroxysm, a sudden recurrence or attack of a disease (convulsion).

      
Inyang, a trader, said in his testimony at the ongoing inquest to unravel the circumstances surrounding the death of the 12-year-old student of Dowen College, that his son had paroxysm and couldn’t make it to the court.
   
He told Coroner Magistrate Mikhail Kadiri, that since his son visited the police station to give his statement concerning the death of his schoolmate, he has been suffering from paroxysm.
   
When he was cross-examined by the state counsel, Mr. Akin George, Inyang narrated how his son was invited to the police station to make a statement. 
    
He said he (Inyang) was not asked to write a statement, noting that he was satisfied with the position of the Director of Public Prosecution(DPP) report, which exonerated his son. 
   
He further told the court that his son is at home. 
   
When asked if he had any medical documents (papers) to support his claim on the health status of his son, he responded, “No.” 
    
But Inyang’s lawyer, Olumide Akinnimi, raised an objection to the question, insisting that the word paroxysm ‘is not a medical term.’ But the court insisted that there isn’t any medical evidence to support the claim.
    
Earlier in the proceedings, the coroner had asked the suspected boy’s lawyer, the relevance of the witness’ testimony to the court and why the schoolboy was not present to give his testimony.
  
Akinnimi said that the father is testifying because his son is still experiencing trauma. He added that the boy has not been able to sleep.
  
The development made the coroner Magistrate to insist that Mr. Inyang’s testimony wasn’t relevant to the ongoing inquest. 
    
He said: “I will prefer the student himself and if you do not provide him, I will have to summon him.
 
“ The allegation is that the deceased was bullied, beaten and given a chemical substance to drink and the father is not directly involved in the matter because he is not the nurse, doctor or Investigating Police Officer, hence his testimony is not relevant to the inquest.”
  
However, Akinnimi maintained that his witness is a competent person, and his testimony is important because he is an alibi.
    
The coroner replied that the witness can’t speak to the fact and circumstances of the death and subsequently adjourned further hearing till March 14, 2022.