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Billionaire Kidnapper Evans To Be Arraigned For Kidnapping, Murder today

Published

7 years ago

August 30, 2017

Notorious kidnapper, Chukwudi Onwuamadike a.k.a. Evans , will be arraigned today on 52 charges bordering on murder, kidnapping, armed robbery and unlawful possession of firearms.

Evans would be arraigned by the police alongside his gang members at the Lagos State High Court.

Punch reports a senior police officer, who confided the development in one of their correspondents, said Evans would face similar charges at the Edo State High Court.

The source said:

“Investigation into crimes committed by Evans has been concluded before the expiration of the 90 days remand order granted by the Federal High Court.

“Evan’s first case is the kidnap of Mr. Donatus Dunu in Ilupeju, Lagos whom he collected N150m ransom from. The case will be coming up in Ikeja High Court 18 before Justice Oshodi on Wednesday (today).

“Evans and 15 of his gang members have so far been arrested and are facing 14 substantive cases (10 in Lagos and four in Edo State), carrying 52 charges of multiple murders, armed robberies, kidnappings, unlawful possession of firearms, unlawful possession of ammunition, among others.”

The source stated that the charges were prepared by the Force Legal Department and the Lagos State Directorate of Public Prosecutions before the state High Court and Edo State High Court Benin.

“Wednesday’s case is one of the 14 cases. Evans and five of his gang members who participated in Mr. Donatus Dunu’s kidnapping will be arraigned.

“The remaining 13 cases relating to 13 more victims and other gang members of Evans not yet arraigned will come up on subsequent dates that the respective high courts and Federal High Court will schedule,” he added.

Commenting on Evans’ planned arraignment, an authoritative police sources told Daily Sun:

“You know that we asked the court to give us three months to conclude our investigation on him and the court granted us the request. Well, we have concluded our investigation and we are arraigning him on August 30, 2017 (today).”

When contacted, Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Olamide Famous-Cole, confirmed that Evans would be arraigned today.

The police on June 10, 2017, arrested kidnap kingpin Evans in Lagos after five years of trailing him.

Security forces said Evans had been responsible for many high profile armed robberies in the South-West and South-East parts of the country.

He was said to have collected billions of naira as ransom from his victims, including expatriates, business moguls and public office holders.

In a related development, Justice Abdul-Azeez Anka of the Federal High Court, Lagos, has fixed September 5 to deliver judgment in the N300 million suit Evans slammed on the IGP and others, challenging his continued detention, following fresh application filed by the police boss and the Nigeria Police.

The court had earlier fixed yesterday for the ruling, but when the case came up, the lawyer representing the IGP and the police, David Igbodo, while drawing the court’s attention to the application, said his clients deserved to be heard before any judgment was delivered in the matter.

According to him, one of the reasons for bringing the application was to urge the court to nullify the submissions of Henry Obiazi, who appeared for both the IGP and police on August 16, 2017, when the matter was fixed for judgment. He said the lawyer was not authorised by either the IGP or the police to represent them in court.

The lawyer, however, asked the court to set aside the ruling delivered at the last hearing when the matter was fixed for judgment without hearing the IGP and the police.

While urging the court to allow him move the application, Igbodo said other respondents in the matter had been served but the applicant rejected service.