Two lawyers appearing for kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, alias Evans, and his co-defendant, Victor Adubua, have asked for a probe into the death of three witnesses in police custody during the trial of Evans.
They told Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Ikeja Special Offences Court in Lagos State that the three witnesses, who were also standing trial died in police custody and no autopsy had been carried out to reveal the cause of their death.
The defence counsel noted that the fact that they died in police custody while they were hale and hearty as of the time of their arrest puts a question mark on the confessional statements obtained from the leader of the gang.
The two lawyers, Emmanuel Ochai and his colleague, made the submission while adopting their final written addresses before the judge.
“Five suspects were arrested; three were picked by police and they told us that three people died. I want an inquest into why the three people died in police custody,” Ochai said.
The defence counsel maintained that the prosecution had failed in several ways to prove the case against Evans and his co-defendant beyond reasonable doubt and urged the court to discharge and acquit them.
“In the first place, the trial started on a wrong footing. The provision of the constitution, which makes it mandatory for suspects to be arraigned in 24 hours, was brushed aside.”
Ochai, while questioning the evidence before the court, said two venues were mentioned by the prosecution as the location of the alleged kidnap.
In his reply, the prosecuting counsel, Yusuf Sule, prayed the court to convict the defendants as charged.
Sule said there was nothing before the court to show that the witnesses that died in the police custody were tortured or killed.
“No evidence to suggest that. No evidence before the court that they were hale and hearty as of the time of arrest,” he said.
The judge adjourned till September 19 for judgment.
