An Ikeja High Court has fixed February 25, next year, for judgment in the trial of alleged kidnap kingpin Chukwudimeme Onwuamadike alias Evans and five other defendants accused of conspiracy and kidnapping.
Evans and his co-defendants, Uche Amadi, Okwuchukwu Nwachukwu, Ogechi Uchechukwu, Chilaka Ifeanyi and Victor Aduba are accused of the February 14, 2017 kidnap of the Managing Director of Maydon Pharmaceuticals Ltd, Donatus Dunu.
Contrary to false viral online reports, this is the first judgment to be fixed in all the five kidnapping trials Evans is currently undergoing at various High Courts in Lagos.
Evans is facing trial alongside diverse co-defendants before Justices Hakeem Oshodi of an Ikeja High Court, Oluwatoyin Taiwo of an Ikeja Special Offences Court and Adedayo Akintoye of an Igbosere High Court.
During proceedings on Friday, Justice Oshodi fixed the judgment date after listening to the oral submissions of the final written addresses of the prosecution and defence counsel.
Earlier, Evans’ defence counsel, Victor Opara (SAN) while giving his oral submission, asked the court to discharge and acquit Evans of the two-count charge.
In a Final Written Address dated November 1, Mr Opara said there was no direct evidence linking Evans to the alleged crimes.
He told the court that Mr Dunu, the alleged kidnap victim who was blindfolded throughout his 88-day ordeal, did not state to the court in his testimony that he could physically identify Evans.
“There is also the fatality of the prosecution’s case that there was no identification parade to identify the first defendant (Evans),” Mr Opara’s statement read.
The lead state prosecutor, Adebayo Haroun, via a Final Written Address dated November 30, asked the court to convict the defendants as charged.
Referring to Evans, Mr Haroun said when a man has confessed to the crime, you do not need an identification parade.
“We have circumstantial evidence linking the first defendant (Evans) to the crime and we also have confessional statements and video recordings of him,” the lead state counsel’s statement said.