Billionaire Kidnapper, Evans Trail to Resume September 13

Billionaire Kidnapper, Evans Trail to Resume September 13

The trial of kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, alias Evans, will resume on September 13, 2018, before Justice Adedayo Akintoye of the Lagos State High Court in Igbosere.

The trial, which last held on June 26, 2018, had been put on hold as a result of the annual vacation of judges.

Evans is facing two separate charges bordering on conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping and attempted murder.

On June 26 when the case was last heard, the court dismissed applications by the defendants, seeking to quash the charges on the contention that the two charges before Justice Akintoye were duplications of earlier charges filed against Evans and others before Justices Hakeem Oshodi and Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Lagos State High Court.

In the applications filed in May, Evans’ original lawyer, Mr Olukoya Ogungbeje, who later withdrew his services, had contended that the two charges before Justice Akintoye were “grossly defective, repetitive and amounted to an abuse of court processes” because Evans had earlier been charged before Justices Oshodi and Taiwo.

But the Lagos State Director of Public Prosecutions, Ms Titilayo Shitta-Bey, maintained that the charges were not an abuse of court processes because the different charges contained different victims allegedly kidnapped or murdered by the defendants.

Ms Titilayo Shitta-Bey said the state decided to file different charges to make the cases tidy, adding that different defendants were charged alongside Evans in the different charges.

Ruling on June 26, Justice Akintoye upheld the Director of Public Prosecutions, arguments and dismissed Evans’ applications.

Justice Akintoye then adjourned till September 13, after court’s vacation, for continuation of trial.

Evans and his co-defendants have pleaded not guilty to all the charges and have been in custody since August 30, 2017, when they were first arraigned.

Billionaire Kidnapper, Evans Trail to Resume September 13