Mr. Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, popularly known as Evans, and two others have, on Friday, has been sentenced to life after being found guilty of kidnapping.
Justice Hakeem Oshodi of the Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja found Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike and the two others guilty of kidnapping.
Evans and five others were charged with conspiracy and kidnapping following their arrest four years ago.
Meanwhile, the Court witnessed tightened security as Justice Oshodi delivered the judgment.
In his judgment, the judge held that the prosecution proved the charge against the three suspects beyond reasonable doubt.
He noted that the evidence tendered before the court especially the videos evidence collaborated the guilty of the convicts.
He disagreed with the defence lawyers, Olarewaju Ajanaku and H.O. Ajibola, that the convicts are first time offenders, remorseful and learnt their lesson.
Oshodi held that they are unrepentant and comfortably lied to the court.
He agreed with the submission of the former Prosecutor, Ms Titi Shitta-Bey, that in view of the gravity of the offence and that kidnapping has been on the rise, that maximun sentence be imposed to serve as a deterrent to others.
Justice Oshodi ruled: “I believe a lesson must be taught to serve as deterrence to others.
“The Law is the Law. Section 411 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Law of Lagos State (ACJL) 2015 must be applied to send the right message to the public that crime does not pay.
“Under the section 411 of the law on which the convicts were arraigned, the penalty for the offence of kidnapping is life imprisonment and the law does not give the court any discretion in the matter.
“I hereby sentenced the three convicts, Chukwudimeme Onwuamadike, Uche Amadi and Okwuchukwu Nwachukwu to life imprisonment.”
Justice Oshodi, meanwhile, discharged and acquitted Ogechi Uchechukwu and two former soldiers of the Nigerian Army, Chilaka Ifeanyi and Victor Aduba for lack of sufficient evidence linking them to the crime.
Evans’s counsel, Victor Opara (SAN), while making his final oral submission, in December 21, had asked the court to discharge and acquit him of the two-count charge before it, saying there was no direct evidence linking Evans to the alleged crimes.
But, prosecution counsel, Adebayo Haroun, urged the court to convict the defendants as charged, saying there was circumstantial evidence linking them as well as confessional statements and video recordings of the accused.
Evans and several other alleged accomplices are also facing two charges before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of an Ikeja Special Offences Court and another two charges before Justice Adedayo Akintoye of the High Court in Igbosere.
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