Notorious kidnap kingpin pleads guilty in court

Notorious kidnap kingpin

The suspect admitted to two-count charges of conspiracy and kidnapping after he was arraigned, alongside five other accomplices, at the Ikeja High Court, Lagos, on Wednesday, August 30, 2017.

His accomplices are Uche Amadi, Ogechi Izechuwku, Okechukwu Nwachukwu, Chilaka Ifeanyi and Victor Chukwumonso.

While Amadi and Nwachukwu also pleaded guilty to the charges alongside Evans, Uchechukwu, Ifeanyi and Aduba pleaded their innocence.

The prosecution team, led by the Lagos State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Adeniji Kazeem, accused the defendants of capturing and detaining and collecting a ransom of £223,000 on Mr. Duru Donatius between Feb. 14 and April 12, 2017, on Obokun Street, Ilupeju.

Justice Hakeem Oshodi ordered that the male defendants be remanded at Kirikiri Maximum Security Prisons, while Izechuwku, the only female in the group, is to be remanded in the prison's female wing.

He adjourned the trial until October 19.

Only the defendants that have pleaded not guilty will face trial when the court resumes, as the prosecution asked to lay statement of facts before sentencing can be carried out on the defendants that have pleaded guilty.

Evans was arrested by a combined team of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and the Anti-Kidnap Unit of the Lagos State Police Command at one of his Magodo Phase II GRA, Lagos, home on Saturday, June 10, 2017.

His arrest was followed by revelations of how he successfully carried out kidnappings and made millions of dollars from his victims, eluding the police during his decade-long reign of terror.