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•As witness tells court how $223,000 ransom was paid
By Romanus Okoye
The first prosecution witness in the ongoing trial of suspected kidnapper, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, aka Evans and five others, Chief Anselm Duru, yesterday narrated how his family negotiated with the kidnappers from their initial request for1million Euro to $223,000 which they finally paid before their brother was released.
Chief Duru, an elder brother to Chief Donatus Duru, who was allegedly kidnapped by Evans and his accomplices, told the Lagos High Court presided over by Justice Hakeem Oshodi that the negotiation took weeks, as the kidnappers did not call regularly and that they did not have the kind of money requested by the kidnappers. He told the court that when they finally met with the kidnappers after their arrest, they pleaded for forgiveness, claiming that it was greed and devil that pushed them.
Before his testimony, the court presided over by Justice Hakeem Oshodi was asked to quash the charges preferred against the defendants, as no prima facie case was established by the prosecution. While making his case, counsel to the first and second defendants, Olukoya Ogungbeje told the court that since the prosecution had amended the charges, the proof of evidence attached to it goes with the earlier charges as provided by law.
He emphasized that the effect of amended charge was that it destroys what was earlier presented as proof of evidence. “It was the law that when charges are amended, the proof of evidence attached to the charges goes with it. As it stands now, there is no proof of evidencethat will follow the amended charges. In a criminal trial, it is required that the prosecution presents the proof of evidence to the accused ahead of trial. But as it is now, the prosecution lacks proof of evidence to go with the new charge since what they had, had died with the earlier charges.”
Another basis of their application was that the prosecution had also presented same charges against the defendants before another court, which he described as forum shopping and abuse of court process. With heavy reliance on his argument, he urged the court to quash the matter.
Apart from the application for quashing the charges, Ogungbeje told the court that he had also filed an application for bail. But the judge told him that he could not be asking the court to quash th matter and also apply for bail. So, the application for bail was ignored.
In their response to the applications, the Directorate of Public Prosecution led by Titilayo Shetta-Bay, however, faulted the argument of the defence and urged the court to disregard it. The DPP argued that the charge sheet and proof of evidence were considered separately. She added that the law allowed the amendment of charges as long as due processes were followed.
While ruling, Justice Oshodi said that Ogungbeje turned the law upside down. “The law is that offences can be separately charged to court. He explained that the amendment only affected the charges; so the proof of evidence filed by the prosecution still stands. He added that defects in a charge can only affect charges if it could mislead the court. The judge concluded that prima facie case was established by the prosecution for the proceeding to continue since prima facie case was not the same as evidence of guilt.
The defendants in the charges of conspiracy and kidnapping are Evans, Uche Amadi, Okwuchukwu Nwachukwu, Ogechi Uchechukwu, Chilaka Ifeanyi and Victor Chukwunonso Aduba. The matter was adjourned till November 17 for ruling on bail application filed by the only female member in the team and cross-examination of the prosecution witness.
