Lagos State High Court in Ikeja has fixed February 25, 2022, to deliver judgment in the case of alleged kidnap kingpin, Chukwudimeme Onwuamadike, also known as, Evans and five others charged with conspiracy and kidnapping.
Justice Hakeem Oshodi fixed the date after lawyers to Evans and his co-defendants argued and adopted their final written addresses on Friday. The suspect was arrested in June 2017.
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Lagos State government had arraigned Evans alongside Uche Amadi, Okwuchukwu Nwachukwu, Ogechi Uchechukwu, Chilaka Ifeanyi, and Victor Aduba.
Evans is also facing similar charges before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo and Justice Adedayo Akintoye of the same court.
All the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
One of the allegations against them was that they kidnapped the Managing Director of Maydon Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Mr Donatus Dunu, on February 14, 2017.
Evans’s counsel, Mr Victor Opara (SAN), while making his oral submission, asked the court to discharge and acquit Evans of the two counts pressed against him.
The SAN argued that the prosecution failed to link his client to the alleged crime.
Opara argued that Dunu, who was said to be blindfolded throughout his 88-day ordeal in kidnappers’den, did not physically identify Evans as one of his abductors.
Opara said;
There is also the fatality of the prosecution’s case that there was no identification parade to identify the first defendant (Evans). There was no evidence before Your Lordship to show that PW2 (Dunu) had a clear opportunity of identifying the first defendant.
However, the lead prosecution counsel, Mr Adebayo Haroun, maintained that the charges had been proven and urged the court to convict Evans and others as charged.
Haroun said;
When a man has confessed to a crime, you do not need an identification parade. There is direct evidence of PW2 (Dunu) testifying about how he was kidnapped, how he escaped and the roles the defendants each played. We have circumstantial evidence linking the first defendant (Evans) to the crime, and we also have confessional statements and video recordings of him. We urge Your Lordship to convict the defendants as charged.
The prosecution had alleged that Dunu was kidnapped on Ilupeju Road in Lagos State and the defendants collected 223,000 euros as ransom from his family.
It closed its case against the defendants on January 10, 2020, after presenting four witnesses, including Dunu.
The defence, on the other hand, closed its case on August 3, 2020, after the six defendants testified.
The judge, after listening to the two sides, fixed February 25, 2022 for judgment.
