Billionaire kidnapper,
Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, also known as Evans, on Wednesday denied ever making
any confessional statement to the police that he was a kidnapper.
Evans spoke through his counsel,
Chino Obiagu during the resumed hearing of his trial at the Ikeja High Court,
Lagos.
He made the remark, following an
attempt by the State Prosecuting Counsel, Adebayo Haroun, to tender documents
containing the statement of the 1st defendant (Evans) as exhibits before the
trial judge, Justice Hakeem Oshodi.
The five suspected members of his
gang namely: Uchenna Amadi, Okwuchukwu Nwachukwu, Ogechi Uchechukwu (the only
female among the gang) and two Ex-Army officers, Chilaka Ifeanyi and Victor
Chukwunonso Aduba, who are also standing trial with him, denied ever making any
statement to the police.
Obiagu contended that the
statement sort to be tendered by the prosecutor was written by a policeman,
Inspector Idowu Haruna attached to Inspector General of Police Intelligence
Response Team.
The counsel also objected to the
tendering of a video clip, during trial, showing Evans confessing to the crime
at the police station on the grounds that it does not corroborate with Section
84 of the Evidence Act.
Obiagu said, “I object to the
admissibility of this document because the 1st defendant didn’t make them
voluntarily and I am also yet to be served with a copy of the video or the
Certified true copy.”
While been led in evidence,
Inspector Haruna told the court that he wrote the statement on behalf of Evans,
after he was arrested on June 2017, because the suspect claimed he didn’t
complete Secondary school and could not write in English language.
Haruna, while being led in
evidence, said that Evans and his gang members all volunteered their statements
under caution after being charged with the offence of Criminal conspiracy and
kidnapping.
He said, “I got to know the
defendants when they were arrested for the kidnap of one Mr Donatus Dunu- the
Managing Director of Maydon pharmaceutical company, who escaped from their
custody at Igando area, Lagos. When the matter was referred to my department at
the IGP Response Team, we immediately visited the scene where the abductors had
held him and discovered it was a well fenced and furnished bungalow with two
flats; just like any normal building.
“Having noticed that their victim
had escaped, they gang abandoned the house before we got there. We conducted a
search and discovered several Ak47 rifles (military version) and pistols which
they left behind. it was through our investigation and items recovered from the
building that we arrested Uchenna Amadi, who had ran to seek refuge at
Port-Harcourt. Amadi, during interrogation, confessed that Evans was the
mastermind and leader of their gang. This information led to the arrest of
Evans at Igando area when he was about to run out of the country to Ghana.
During Evans testimony, he mentioned other members of his gang like Ifeanyi and
Aduba, who are former Army officers; Nwachukwu aka “Congo”-who is the agent and
informant that sold information of victims to kidnap; Uchenna Amadi and his
wife Ogechi. My team also made a video recording of Evans confession and
narration of all his kidnapping activities before and after he came to Lagos in
2013.
“After volunteering their
statements, it was read to them and they signed. I, however, signed as the
recorder. Some of the suspects recorded their statements by themselves but I
personally recorded the statement of Evans and Victor Aduba. Their statement
was further read to them again by a superior police officer, CSP Philip (former
DSP) and they all agreed to have volunteered without duress. Evans, however,
told us that he never imagined he could ever be caught because he has no other
means of livelihood apart from crime-kidnapping and armed robbery.”
After listening to all parties
involved, Justice Oshodi adjourned the matter till October 26.
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