Court convicts kidnapper Evans, acquits four others
Lagos High Court sitting in Ikeja has convicted kidnap kingpin, Mr Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, popularly known as, Evans, on a 2-count charge of conspiracy and kidnapping of a business man, Donatus Duru.
The victim is the Managing Director of Maydon Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Justice Hakeem Oshodi convicted Evans, alongside two of his co-defendants, Uchenna Amadi and Okwuchukwu Nwachukwu.
The judge held that the prosecution had successfully proved the charge against the three convicts beyond a reasonable doubt.
He concluded that the evidence tendered before the court especially their videos confessions corroborated their guilt.
The court, however, discharged and acquitted Ogechi Uchechukwu and two former soldiers of the Nigerian Army, Chilaka Ifeanyi and Victor Aduba, for lack of sufficient evidence linking them to the crime.
Police arrested Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, also known as ‘Evans’ at his Lagos home, on June 10, 2017. He was subsequently charged to court on multiple counts in three courts and five separate trials.
In one of the trials in Lagos on August 27, 2020, where Onwuamadike appeared with alleged accomplices Joseph Emeka, Chiemeka Arinze and Udeme Upong.
They have been charged with attempting to kidnap prominent Nigerian transporter Vincent Obianodo, murders of his police aide and driver, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit a felony, namely kidnapping and sale and transfer of firearms, according to the court registrar’s office.
They have pleaded not guilty and the trial was adjourned to September 17, 2020, after a day of witness cross-examination.
In the second of his five trials sitting in the same court, Onwuamadike stood accused alongside Victor Aduba, a dismissed Nigerian military officer, of the alleged kidnapping and unlawful possession of firearms.
Both also pleaded not guilty and the case adjourned to September 17, 2020.
Evans now faces life imprisonment following his conviction by the court, as the Kidnapping Prohibition Law of 2017, under which Onwuamadike was tried, imposes a penalty of life imprisonment for suspects found guilty of kidnapping, and the death penalty when their victim dies in the course of a kidnapping.
However, convicted kidnapper also faces other trials in the state for other offences bordering on kidnapping.
