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EVANS: Court throws out application seeking to quash charge against suspected kidnapper

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EVANS: Court throws out application seeking to quash charge against suspected kidnapper

For the umpteenth time, a court in Lagos has thrown out an application seeking to quash charges preferred against suspected billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike popularly known as Evans.

Reports say the Lagos State High Court, sitting in Igbosere area refused the application for Evans who is facing two different charges before the court, with the first being a five-counts bordering on conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping and attempted murder.

He is being charged alongside three others including; Joseph Emeka, Ugochukwu Nwachukwu and Victor Aduba.

In his application, the defendant (Evans) had said that ‎all the counts in the charge were “grossly defective, repetitive and an abuse of court processes”. At the resumed hearing today, Justice Akintoye said that the processes filed by both counsels to the case identified three major issues for determination. “Whether a prima facie case has been established, whether the charges are incompetent and whether the court has jurisdiction to entertain the charge,” she said.

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Akintoye said that for a prima facie case to be established, the proof of evidence must sufficiently link the defendants with the offence. She said “looking closely at the proof of evidence, a prima facie case has been established. “The statement of one of the victims stated that Evans shot him with a gun, cleaned the wound by himself and asked the third defendant to look after him (victim)”.

The judge also held that the charge was not an abuse of court process, adding that every distinct offence should be charged separately. She, however, stated that the information did not offend the rule of duplicity as enshrined in Sections 152 and 153 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law (ACJL) of Lagos State. Akintoye said that the charges were not defective nor an abuse of court process, “the charge disclosed different offences with different facts, different victims and different places”.

She also said that the defendant did not prove that there was any miscarriage of justice in the charge filed. She said on the issue whether court has jurisdiction, the argument was that the court has the power to quash charge. She, however, held that the application to quash charge was premature.

“The defendant must wait until the close of prosecution’s case before filing to quash charge, the application to quash charge and to discharge the defendants is hereby refused and dismissed. “The application lacked merit, I so hold,” Justice Akintoye ruled. After the ruling, the prosecutor, the Lagos State Director for Public Prosecutions (DPP), Ms Titilayo Shitta-Bey, said in view of the ruling, the Govt wants the defendants to be arraigned. The defendants (Evans is being tried alongside Joseph Emeka, Linus Okpara and Victor Aduba) were promptly arraigned on a 5 count charge for allegedly conspiring among themselves to kidnap one Chief James Uduji, and for collecting a ransom of $1.2 million dollars and for attempts to murder the man.

 

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