A Lagos State High Court, Ikeja has convicted and sentenced notorious kidnap kingpin, Chukuwuememe Onwuamadike, otherwise known as Evans, to life imprisonment for kidnapping.
Justice Hakeem Oshodi of the Lagos State High Court found Evans guilty of a two-count charge bordering on conspiracy and kidnapping of the Managing Director of Maydon Pharmaceuticals Limited, Donatus Dunu.
Apart from Evans, other two other members of his gang were also found guilty by the court for same offence.
The two other members of his gang found guilty were Uche Amadi and Okwuchukwu Nwachukwu.
Evans was arrested on June 10 2017 in Lagos by the police. Before his arrest, the police had placed a N30-million bounty on him in return for information that could lead to his arrest.
The defendants had earlier pleaded not guilty to the two-count charge preferred against them when they were first arraigned before the court by the state government.
While convicting the convicts, the judge held that the prosecution had succeeded in proving the charge against the three convicts beyond any reasonable doubt.
He concluded that the evidence tendered before the court, especially the videos evidence, collaborated the guilt of the convicts.
However, the court 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.
The state had claimed that the convicts committed the alleged offence between February 14 and April 12, 2017.
The prosecution had further told the court that the incident took place at about 7:45 pm, along Obokun Street, Ilupeju, Lagos.
He disclosed that on April 12, Evans alongside the other five defendants, while armed with guns and other weapons captured, detained and collected a ransom of 223, 000 Euros from Donatus for his release.
The Lagos State government had arraigned them before the court on August 30, 2017 under Section 155 subsection 1 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act 2017, which carries life imprisonment.
The convicts were re-arraigned the defendants on October 19, 2017.
The prosecution closed its case against the defendants on January 10, 2020, after presenting four witnesses, including Dunu while the defence closed its case on August 3, 2020, after the six defendants testified.
Evans is also facing similar charges before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo and Justice Adedayo Akintoye of the same court.
Evans was arrested in June 2017 in one of his two mansions on Magodo Estate, Lagos, after seven years of high-profile abductions across the country, during which he collected millions of dollars in ransoms.
Six of his gang members identified as Nwosu Chukwuma, aka Sudo, 42; Suoyo Paul aka Nwana, 42; Felix Chinemerem, 36; Chukwuemeka Bosah, 28; Uchechukwu Amadi and Ogechi Amadi were arrested. Five AK-47 rifles, one AK-49 rifle, two English pistols, 59 AK-47 magazine with ammunition, 1,272 pieces of live ammunition of AK-47 (9mm) and five number plates were reportedly recovered from the suspects.
His reign of horror was brought to and end after the Inspector-General’s Intelligence Response Team (IRT) led by suspended DCP Kyari arrested him at his No 3, Fred Shoboyede Street, Magodo, Lagos home, after a fierce gun battle which lasted several hours.
Facts about his dreaded activities became clearer after one of his latest victims, Mr Donatus Dunu escaped from his den. He is a pharmacist and the owner of Maydon Pharmaceutical Company, Ilupeju, Lagos. He was abducted and kept for three months at one of Evans’ hideouts at No 21, Prophet Asaye Close, New Igando, a Lagos suburb.
Operatives of the IRT went into action and with the aid of high-tech equipment, they were able to track key members of the kidnap syndicate, rounded them up and then set the stage for the final arrest of Evans.
