By
Fatimah Idera
After a protracted trial, celebrity kidnap kingpin, Chukwudimeme Onwuamadike, alias Evans and his accomplice, Victor Aduba has been sentenced to between 21 years imprisonment to life imprisonment for kidnapping a businessman Slyvanus Ahamonou and collecting N$420,000 as ransom from his family.
The judgment was pronounced by Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo sitting at the Ikeja Special Offenses Court on Monday.
In the judgment that lasted for about an hour, the court sentenced Evans to a total of 52 years and the second defendant got 26 years jail term
The victim, Sylvanus Ahanonu was kidnapped in Lagos on the 23rd of June, 2014,and was made to pay over 420,00 USD as ransom as Evans and his gang kidnapped him on Kara Road off Osolo Way, Ajao Estate, Lagos.
The sentences are to run concurrently as Evans is facing five different kidnap charges of kidnapping and illegal possession of firearms.
Recall that Evans case had lasted for four and a half years. The trial before an Ikeja High Court was plagued by delays caused by applications filed by counsel as well as Evans’s frequent change of counsel. The lockdown necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the 64-day strike in 2021 by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria (JUSUN) also contributed to the delay.
