Evans, five others remanded in Kirikiri prison after guilty plea to kidnap charges

Kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, a.k.a Evans and five others were on Wednesday arraigned before an Ikeja High Court in Lagos. He was arraigned alongside Uche Amadi, Ogechi Uchechukwu, Okwuchukwu Nwachukwu, Chilaka Ifeanyi and Victor Aduba on two charges of conspiracy and kidnapping.

Evans, Amadi and Nwachukwu pleaded guilty to the charges while Uchechukwu, the only female defendant, Ifeanyi and Aduba pleaded not guilty of the offences. According to the prosecution led by Mr Adeniji Kazeem, the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Evans and his accomplices committed the offence of conspiracy at 7.45pm on Feb. 14 on Obokun Street, Ilupeju, Lagos.

The prosecution said the defendants between Feb. 14 and April 12 on Obokun Street, Ilupeju, while armed with guns and other dangerous weapons, captured and detained Mr Duru Donatius. According to Kazeem, the defendants collected a ransom of 223,000 euros before Donatius could be released. After the charges were read to them, Kazeem, requested for the remand of the defendants.

Mr Olukoya Ogungbeje, counsel to Evans, Amadi, Uchechukwu, Ifeanyi and Aduba told the court that he and his team had not got the opportunity to ‘confer’ with his clients.
“With respect to the application from the learned Attorney-General, we shall not be opposing same.

“However, the defence team just had the opportunity of meeting our clients this morning in court for the first time, we were just served with documents in the open court this morning. All the defendants have since been in the custody of the Police and we have not had the opportunity of conferring with them regarding the offences which are capital in nature,” Ogungbeje said.

The vacation judge, Justice Hakeem Oshodi, asked the Attorney-General for his choice of prison for the defendants to be remanded.
“Maximum Kirikiri Prisons, My Lord,” Kazeem replied.

The case was adjourned to Oct. 19 for trial.

NAN