Suspected billionaire kidnapper, Chukwudumeme
Onwuamadike (a.k.a Evans), on Monday broke down in tears at an Igbosere High
Court in Lagos, claiming maltreatment at the Kirikiri Maximum Security Prison,
Apapa, Lagos.
Evans told the judge, Adedayo Akintoye, that he
was not well fed by the prison officials who, he claimed were “taking his case
personal”.
According to him, he was kept in solitary
confinement and was denied access to his visitors.
His complaints followed the continuation of
proceedings in a series of kidnap, murder and attempted murder charges brought
against him by the Lagos State Government since his arrest on June 10, 2017, in
his Lagos property.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that
the Lagos State Government had brought a fresh charge bordering on conspiracy
to kidnap, kidnapping and attempted murder against Evans and three others.
Evans was charged alongside Joseph Emeka,
Ugochukwu Nwachukwu and Victor Aduba.
In the second charge, he is being tried
alongside Joseph Emeka, Linus Okpara and Victor Aduba.
When the case was mentioned, the Lagos State
Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Titilayo Shitta-Bey, told the court that
Evans refused to disembark from black Maria.
The judge, consequently, ordered prison warders
to bring him into the court.
He was then brought into the court barefooted
with his back filled with sand and his green Tee-shirt torn on the right
shoulder.
When docked, he raised his hands to be given
audience.
“I have an explanation to make; since I have
been in the maximum prison, they have been maltreating me: no visit, they don’t
feed me well, I have eye problem and I cannot see far.
“What have I done to you people? They have been
beating me, there is no good food, I have been locked up in one place since
August 30, last year. Why are they taking my case personal?
“Let me face my trial alive; why do you people
want to kill me?’’ Mr Evans cried.
However, a prison warder from Kirikiri Maximum
Prison, told the court that Evans was well cared for.
The warder also said a doctor had been seeing
Evans after he complained about his health.
The warder said: “We have been treating him
very well; he is well fed, and people have been visiting him; a doctor has been
checking him; the doctor checked him yesterday and even this morning before he
was brought to court.
“The doctor says he is healthy and can be
brought to court.”
Mr Okpara’s counsel, Ogedi Ogu, also told the
court that his client complained of maltreatment.
In her response, the DPP said that Evans made
it up.
“This was exactly what Evans said before an
Ikeja High Court.
“We, therefore, wrote to the prison and it
replied, assuring us that Evans was being taken care of like every other
inmate,” the DPP said.
Mr Akintoye, however, asked the authorities of
the prison to ensure that the accused were well taken care of, noting that they
were still presumed innocent until proven guilty.
After all the drama, Mr Evans was arraigned
alongside Joseph Emeka, Linus Okpara and Victor Aduba on a two-count charge of
conspiracy and unlawful capture.
The charge was preferred against them by Lagos
State.
According to the charge, the accused and others
still at large conspired and unlawfully captured one Uche Okorafor on November
21, 2014 at Festac Town, Lagos, demanding a ransom of two million dollars.
The offences contravened Sections 269 and 409
of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, according to the prosecution.
The case has been adjourned until May 25 for
trial.
No comments:
Post a Comment