Following the death of three witnesses who died while in police custody during the prosecution of the kidnap mastermind Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike, notoriously known as Evans, and his co-defendant Victor Adubua, have been requested to be investigated.
Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Ikeja Special Offenses Court in Lagos State was informed about the three witnesses, who were also awaiting prosecution, passed away while in police custody and that no postmortem had been done to determine the reason for their demise.
The defense attorney pointed out that the reason that they died suddenly while in police detention depot being healthy at the moment they were arrested awakens doubt regarding the details of the gang leader’s confessional admissions.
Emmanuel Ochai and his colleague, who were both attorneys, made the submission when they presented their final written submissions before the judge.
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‘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 defense 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.
The defense attorney noted that there were numerous instances where the prosecution’s attempts to establish Evans and his co-defendant beyond a reasonable doubt had failed, and he urged the court to release and exonerate the defendants.
‘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 added that the prosecution had identified two locations as the purported kidnapping locations while challenging the evidence in front of the court.
Yusuf Sule, the lawyer in charge of the prosecution, appealed to the court to pronounce the defendants guilty of all charges in his response.
The court had no evidence, according to Sule, that the witness who died while in police detention had been victimized or murdered.
‘No evidence to suggest that. No evidence before the court that they were hale and hearty as of the time of arrest,’ he stated.
The judgment was adjourned until September 19 by the judge.
