ALLEGED MURDER: DEFENSE COUNSEL’S ABSENCE STALLS ARRAIGNMENT OF EVANS
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Due to the absence of his attorney, the scheduled arraignment of convicted kidnapping mastermind Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, also known as Evans, at the Lagos High Court in Ikeja today was postponed.
The scheduled arraignment was then postponed to June 13 by trial judge Justice Adenike Coker.
The amended five-count accusation against Evans and his co-defendant, Joseph Emeka, includes conspiracy, attempted kidnapping, and murder.
On August 27, 2013, they are said to have slain a man named Peter Nweke on Third Avenue in Festac Town, Lagos State.
Along with killing one Chijioke Ngozi, the two were also accused of trying to kill Obianado Vincent, the chairman of Young Shall Grow Motors, and succeeding in doing so.
The accused were called into the dock when the case was brought before Justice Coker on Thursday.
Nevertheless, both men informed the court that they were unaware of the arraignment and voiced uncertainty as to whether their solicitors were aware when the judge questioned them about why they were not represented by counsel.
Nevertheless, Yusuf Sule, a Lagos state government attorney, informed the court that he had spoken with Evans’s attorney earlier in the morning, despite the fact that Evans was the first defendant and was based in Abuja. Sule made this announcement on behalf of the prosecution.
The prosecutor also told the court that counsel to the second defendant was before her brother’s judge in another court.
He informed the court that the two defendants had applied for a plea bargain, which was still being considered by the Attorney General of the state.
Sule also drew the court’s attention to the amended 5-count charge as two previous defendants, Chiemeka Arinze, and Udeme Frank, were no longer captured in the new charge. He explained that one of them had passed on in prison while the other had been convicted.
The prosecutor asked the court to grant a new date for the arraignment of the defendants on the amended charge.
Counsel for the second defendant, Nelson Onyejiaka who had come in then announced his appearance, and confirmed that plea bargain talks were indeed ongoing.
Justice Coker noted that with the absence of Evans’s counsel, the proceedings could not go on.
She then directed Evans to make sure his counsel was present on the next adjourned date, and subsequently fixed June 13 for arraignment and a report on the plea bargain agreement.
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