An Igbosere High Court in Lagos has been told that alleged kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, aka Evans received $1 m ransom for the release of one of his victims.
A witness, Izuchukwu Ezeuko, made the revelation on Thursday at the resumed trial of the kingpin.
Evans is facing two separate charges both bordering on conspiracy to kidnap, kidnapping and attempted murder before Justice Adedayo Akintoye.
In the first charge, he is standing trial alongside Joseph Emeka, Ugochukwu Nwachukwu and Victor Aduba while in the second charge he is being tried alongside Joseph Emeka, Linus Okpara and Victor Aduba.
At the resumed trial on Thursday, Ezeuko, a manager in the firm of Mr. James Uduji narrated how he paid one million dollar ransom in two tranches of 800, 000 and 200,000 dollars to the kidnappers of his employer.
According to him, on Sept. 7, 2015, his employer came to the factory at Agbara. At 5.00 p.m. the same day, he got a call that his employer who had left the factory for home had been kidnapped.
A month later, on Oct. 10, 2015, he told the court that he received a call from a private number and the caller said he should speak with his boss.
Mr. Ezeuko said further: “My boss then spoke to me and said if I want him alive, I should go to the East to deliver money to the alleged kidnappers. I went to Festac Town and met Mr. Edwin Uduji, the victim’s brother, who arranged the first 800, 000 dollars for me to travel with.
“On October 11, I drove to the East with the victim’s elder sister, and in the East, a voice gave us instructions on how to drop the money. We were made to drive round Anambra from Awka to Ozubulu, also to Ekwuluobia and the environs until were asked to stop at Oba. It was at Oba that the voice asked the victim’s sister to come down from the vehicle with the money.
“The voice directed her to an uncompleted building where she dropped the money. It was dark so we did not see the person who picked the money.”
Ezuko told the court that two weeks after the 800, 000 dollar ransom was dropped his boss released adding that towards the end of October, however, his boss asked him to take another 200, 000 dollars to the kidnappers because they were still threatening his life.
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This time, he said he was asked to drop the money on the Onitsha expressway by the voice that gave him instructions.
During cross-examination, counsel to Evans, Mr. Olarewaju Ajanaku, asked Ezeuko if he informed the police about the ransom or gave the call logs of the person he interacted with to the police to which he responded in the negative.
Ezeuko is the fifth witness in the trial.
Another witness, giving evidence in the first charge, where Evans is standing trial alongside Joseph Emeka, Ugochukwu Nwachukwu and Victor Aduba, over the kidnap of Mr. Donatus, Sgt. Kingsley Harold told the court that after Evans was arrested, he was asked to make a statement at the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) office in Ikeja but Evans said he was not “too good” in writing.
He said Evans, however, asked him to write the statement for him, adding that the statement was recorded in an open office in the presence of senior police officers and other people who came to the office for other cases.
According to him, the statement was recorded in a “conducive environment” between 2.00 pm and 3.00 pm. He also told the court that the defendant was cautioned before making the statement.
However, the defendant’s counsel challenged the admissibility of the statement leading to a trial-within-trial being conducted to ascertain the admissibility of the evidence.
After listening to the arguments, Justice Akintoye adjourned trial to October 8.
