AN Ikeja Special Offences Court on Monday sentenced kidnap kingpin, Chukwudimeme Onwuamadike, alias Evans, to 21 years imprisonment for kidnapping a businessman, Sylvanus Ahamonou, and collecting $420,000 as ransom from his family.
Evans’s accomplice, Victor Aduba, an ex-soldier, was also sentenced to 21 years imprisonment on a four-count charge bordering on kidnapping and unlawful possession of firearms. Delivering judgment, Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo held that the prosecution had successfully proved the case of kidnap and possession of firearms against the convicts.
Justice Taiwo said: “It has been established by the prosecution witness (PW3, Ahamonou) that he was kidnapped. The question is, who kidnapped him?
“PW3 identified the first defendant in court while he was giving his testimony. He also recognised him at the police station nearly two months before the matter was taken to court. “He testified that he was blindfolded before being taken to the bus. He said ‘Immediately I saw him, I said this was the person who kidnapped me.’
“I also watched the video where the first defendant admitted to having kidnapped PW3.
“The first defendant sat in a comfortable chair and there was no sign that he made the statement under duress.
“He was not threatened or harassed. He signed the statement. “He also revealed how he broke into banks and later graduated to kidnapping. I am satisfied that this court can convict the defendants through his confessional statement.”
The judge also held that there was no proof before the court that three of Evans’s men were killed by the police.
She also convicted Aduba based on his confessional statement, and held that he should serve out his term without the option of fine.
“I have considered the allocates of the defence counsel. This sentencing will serve as a deterrent to others.
“The two are hereby sentenced to five-year jail term for the first count; second count, 21 years, and third count, five years.
“The sentencing will, however, run concurrently. They are hereby sentenced to 21 years imprisonment without an option of fine,” Taiwo said.
The first defence counsel, Mr Amobi Nzelu, in his allocutus, prayed the court to temper justice with mercy, adding that the convict was already serving a life jail term.
“I pray the court to grant him a lesser jail term,” Amobi pleaded.
The second defence counsel, Mrs Adeola Folarin, in her allocutus, also prayed the court to temper justice with mercy as the convict was a first offender.
She said: “My lord, he is a young man who has served his country while in the army.
“He also had a child while he was in custody. He is a father of two young children and they have not enjoyed his fatherly love. We pray the court to temper justice with mercy.”
Counsel for the state, Mr Yusuf Sule, however, urged the court to convict the defendants as charged.
Sule said: “My lord, the first defendant had been sentenced to life imprisonment before Justice Hakeem Oshodi. I urge the court to sentence the defendants accordingly.”
Ahamonou and his wife, Chimebere, had on December 17, 2021, testified virtually about how Evans and his gang kidnapped him on June 23, 2014, on Kara Road, off Osolo Way, Ajao Estate, Lagos.
The couple narrated how they sold properties, borrowed money, raised funds from family and well-wishers to attempt to raise the initial $2 million ransom that was demanded by Evans.
The man, whose hands and legs were chained throughout his two months in captivity, was released after the family paid Evans $420,000 ransom.
Justice Oshodi of the Ikeja High Court had on February 25, sentenced Evans to life imprisonment for the kidnap of Mr Donatus Dunu, the Chief Executive Officer of Maydon Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
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