Court sentences Evans co-defendant to five years in prison for sale of firearms

Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Lagos State Special Offences Court, Ikeja, on Friday sentenced Frank Udeme, one of the co-defendants of the convicted billionaire kidnap kingpin, Chukwudimeme Onwuamadike aka Evans, to five years in prison for sale of firearms.

The judge convicted the defendant after he pleaded guilty to the charge.

She ordered that the sentence would take effect from the day Udeme was remanded in custody.

Justice Taiwo said: “In view of the guilty plea of the third defendant, I hereby find the defendant guilty as charged.

“The defendant is hereby sentenced to five years imprisonment. However, the sentence will take effect from the day the defendant has been in detention which is July 6, 2017.”

The state’s Director of Public Prosecution, Dr. Babatunde Martins, had earlier told the court that the defendant admitted that he sold two AK47 rifles and 270 AK47 live ammunition to Evans.

He said: “He admitted to having met the first defendant and sold two AK-47 rifles and 270 AK-47 live ammunition to him.

READ ALSO: Evans denies kidnapping businessman, collecting N174m from family

“In his statement, the defendant said he got the weapons from his community.

“According to him, the weapons were given to him by his community to fight an inter-communal crisis.

“Evans sent his driver, Emeka to retrieve the ammunition from him. In his statement he wrote and I quote ‘I sold the ammunition to Evans for N400,000 but he only paid me N200,000. Ever since, I have not seen him.”

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