Judge’s Absence Stalls Billionaire Kidnapper Evans Trial
The on -going trial of alleged kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike alias Evans, before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja was on Monday stalled due to the absence of the judge.
According to a court official, who pleaded anonymity, Justice Taiwo did not sit because she was attending an official assignment with the Chief Judge of Lagos State Justice Opeyemi Oke.
The case will now come up for hearing on June 16.
The Lagos State government is prosecuting Evans alongside Victor Aduba on a four count charge of kidnapping and unlawful possession of firearms.
They were accused of kidnapping Mr. Sylvanus Ahamonu , holding him hostage for at least nine weeks and collecting a ransom of 420 ,000 dollars from his family.
During the last court proceedings on March 14 , the videos of Evans confessing to committing crimes of kidnapping and armed robbery within and outside Lagos were shown in court.
The footage in two compact discs was aired during the testimony of Inspector Idowu Haruna, a member of the Police Intelligence Response Team.
The videos which were projected on the wall of the courtroom showed Evans wearing a red T-shirt, seated on a leather sofa in a room and confessing his crimes to Haruna.
He could be seen smiling and telling the policeman about his daytime and night time armed robberies of banks as well as his kidnap escapades where ransom ranging from 250,000 dollars to one million dollars were received from his victims.
He could be heard giving details of his family background, how he ran away from home and embarked on a life of crime.
Evans is also facing trial for two other kidnapping cases at the Lagos High Court in Ikeja.
They are being tried for the attempted kidnap of Chief Vincent Obianodo , the CEO of the Young Shall Grow Motors also before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo , while the case of alleged kidnap of Mr . Donatius Dunu, the CEO of Maydon Pharmaceuticals is before Justice Hakeem Oshodi.
