Court Adjourns Suit Against Evans Seeking Refund of £223,000 Ransom
- The suit against Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike (a.k.a. Evans) filed by one of his kidnap victims seeking a refund of £223,000 has been adjourned
- Justice Kayode Ogunjobi of the Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa adjourned the case due to the absence of the accused
- However, the case is expected to resume on Wednesday, October 12 which will in turn allow the defence to open its case
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Emerging reports have confirmed that kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike (a.k.a. Evans) was absent in court on Wednesday, July 13 for trial in a suit filed by the legal counsel of one Chief Donatus Duru.
According to ThisDay newspaper, Chief Duru was a kidnap victim of Evans who paid a whopping sum of £223,000 to regain freedom from the kidnap den.
In his suit, filed in 2018 before the Lagos High Court sitting at Tafawa Balewa Square, Chief Duru is seeking a refund of the £223,000 he paid for ransom to regain his freedom.
Legit.ng gathered that Chief Duru is also demanding the sum of N50 million as damages for his abduction.
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The absence of convicted kidnap kingpin, Chukwudumeme Onwuamadike (a.k.a. Evans), on Wednesday stalled a suit filed against him by a kidnap victim, Chief Donatus Duru.
Evans absent in court
However, in what would have been the commencement of the trial, the accused was reportedly absent from court proceedings on Wednesday, July 13.
Meanwhile, Evans’s counsel, Mr Amobi Nzelu, reminded the court that on the last adjourned date, June 29, it granted his application to become counsel to the defendant.
Nzelu said that he consequently wrote a letter to the court requesting that the Nigeria Correctional Service be directed to produce the defendant in court on Wednesday.
The counsel said that he was surprised that the defendant was not produced in court.
However, Duru’s counsel, Mr D. O. Obiora, said that the case was adjourned until Wednesday for the defence to open its case.
Obiora said that a copy of the letter was not served on him, “we are parties in this suit, we should be given a copy of the letter,” he said.
Evans’s counsel replied that it was an oversight, “it was not done to hurt the claimant,” he submitted.
Justice Kayode Ogunjobi held that the letter was not acted upon by the court’s registrar, ruling that proceedings would not go on because the defendant was not in court.
He adjourned the case until October 12 for the defence to open its case.
On the last adjourned date, the judge granted the defendant’s application to change his counsel and to amend his statement of defence.
The defendant was represented by a lawyer in March 2019 and was accorded an opportunity to defend himself but failed to do so.
When the claimant closed his case on March 3, 2022, the defendant sought the leave of court to defend himself.
According to Evans, he has been in prison custody since August 2017 and was not aware of the pendency of the action.
He said that he became aware of the suit in 2019 when he was already out of time to file a defence.
Evans told the court that as soon as he became aware of the suit, he contracted a lawyer to defend him.
The defendant, however, said that sometime in March, he was informed that the lawyer had ceased to represent him.
Source: Legit.ng
