Chocolate coloured material found in late student Sylvester Oromoni’s stomach — Pathologist

A medical doctor, Clement Vhirterhire, who carried out the initial autopsy on Sylvester Oromoni’s body, yesterday, told a Lagos Coroner that a chocolate-coloured- material was found in the deceased’s stomach.

He, however, said Sylvester Oromoni Jnr died of pneumonia leading to sepsis.
His testimony aligned with the testimony of another pathologist., Dr. Sokunle Soyemi of the Lagos State University Hospital (LASUTH), who had earlier given evidence in the matter.  
Vhirterhire narrated his findings before Coroner Magistrate Mikhail Kadiri, who was conducting an inquest to unravel the cause of Oromoni Junior’s death.   
The doctor stated that his initial finding of chemical intoxication as a cause of death was made before a toxicology result ruled out that possibility.

Vhirterhire, who was the 12th witness to testify in an ongoing inquest, told the court that his examination of the deceased’s lungs showed they looked abnormal as the blood vessels were engorged. 
Vhriterhire, while being led in evidence, said he was served with coroner papers by the police to carry out a post-mortem on December 2, 2021 on  Oromoni’s corpse.  
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.” 
He 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 signs 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,  He said: “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.
“I opened the stomach, what I saw in the stomach was a chocolate- coloured-material.”  
The pathologist, who said he is also a pastor was questioned by the Coroner on what he would say, whether the allegation of beating and being given chemical substance led to the deceased’s 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.” (The Guardian: Excluding headline)