Lawyers to the convicted kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike (alias Evans) yesterday told the Special Offences Court, sitting in Ikeja, Lagos state that the three witnesses, who were standing trial with Evans, died in police custody and that no autopsy was done to reveal the circumstances surrounding their death.
At a resumed hearing on Friday, the defendant’s counsel, Chuks Muoma (SAN) and Emmanuel Ochai asked the court to order an inquiry into the death of three witnesses in police custody during the trial of the kidnap kingpin. They submitted that the fact that they died in custody whereas they were hale and hearty when the police arrested them raises serious questions about the confessional statements obtained from the leader of the gang.
The two defense counsel further submitted that the prosecution has failed in several areas to prove the case against Evans and his colleague beyond reasonable doubt and urged the court to discharge and acquit them.
In his submission, the state prosecution counsel, Mr. Yusuf Sule, however, prayed that the first and second defendants be convicted. He said that a defendant needed not to be seen at the scene of the crime to be convicted, stressing that though the confession of one person could not be used against another person, there were exemptions where the nexus correlate and are interwoven, quoting a Supreme Court justice.
Evans and Aduba, an ex-soldier, are on trial for the kidnap and demand of ransom from businessman Sylvanus Ahamonu, for which they allegedly received $420,000. They are charged with four counts of kidnapping and illegal gun possession.
This is not the first time allegation of torture and extra-judicial execution against the police is coming up during the trial. While giving evidence during the trial on October 26, 2018, Evans narrated his experience in the custody of the Police Intelligence Response Unit(IRT) headed by the suspended DCP Abbah Kyari:
“They took me to the backyard of the IG’s guest house. In the backyard, I saw some people that I was paraded with; they were wearing leg chains. Some of them had bullet wounds on their legs and Phillip ordered Haruna to bring a big brown cellotape, handkerchief, and poly bags.
“Haruna forced a handkerchief into the mouth of one of them; he used the cellotape to tightly tape his mouth and face and put a poly bag over his head and cellotaped it, and used another poly bag and cellotaped it for the second time, and they left the man on the ground. The man on the ground was shaking; he pissed (urinated) on his body, he poo-pooed (defecated) on his body, and, after a while, he went quiet. Haruna went to the man and stepped on his body and he was unresponsive and he told me ‘can you see I have traveled him,’ and he asked if I knew the method of killing and I said no; they said that it is called ‘Saddam Hussein’”
The trial judge Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo however fixed September 19, 2022, as the date for judgment after listening to the submissions and arguments of the counsel in the suit.
